Canada Urged to Stop Fueling War in Yemen with Saudi Arms Sales

A report in the Canadian “The Globe and Mail” newspaper, published on Wednesday, stated that Canada for the second year in a row is named as one of the countries helping fuel the war in Yemen. A panel of experts monitoring the conflict for the United Nations and investigating possible war crimes among combatants included Canada on a list of five countries selling arms to those waging the conflict in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia.

The panel says the international community has forsaken Yemen as the war enters its seventh year with no ceasefire in sight. Arms sales from Canada and countries that include the United States and the United Kingdom continue “with little regard for the immense suffering caused to the people of Yemen,” says the latest report by the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen.

The panel, which first identified Canada in its 2020 report, expressed concern that countries are still shipping arms to the combatants. “Given the horrific toll the war continues to take on the people of Yemen, it does not stand to reason that third states continue to supply the parties to the conflict with the tools of war. The flow of arms must stop now,” panel chairman Kamel Jendoubi said.

Saudi Arabia is Canada’s largest export market for military goods after the United States, and figures for 2020, the most recent available, show more than $1.3-billion worth of Canadian defence equipment – chiefly armoured vehicles equipped with machine guns or cannons – was shipped to Riyadh. A major driver of the exports is a $15-billion deal to sell the combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia. The deal was struck under the Harper government, but the Trudeau government in 2016 gave the export approvals for shipments to begin.

Human-rights groups and Western political leaders – including the European Parliament – have urged a freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Ardi Imseis, a professor of law at Queen’s University and a member of the UN-appointed panel, said those waging war in Yemen continue to believe they can prosecute the conflict without significant consequences.
According to Prof. Imseis, Canada’s unwillingness to cancel arms shipments to Saudi Arabia means the kingdom is facing no censure for its conduct. He said ending armoured-vehicle shipments would send a signal to Saudi Arabia that its behaviour in Yemen is unacceptable.

“So long as the arms continue to flow, this war is just going to get worse,” he said. “Canada’s continued supply of arms to the parties in the conflict is part of the problem.”

Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of Project Ploughshares, a Waterloo, Ont., disarmament group, said it’s embarrassing for Canada to be named by a UN panel investigating breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen.

“All Canadians should be ashamed about Canada’s dishonourable inclusion in this damning report,” he said.

Source: The Globe and Mail Website