CIVICUS speaks with Martin Butcher, Policy Advisor on Arms, Conflict and International Humanitarian Law at Oxfam, about the UK’s partial ban on arms sales to Israel and Oxfam’s role in supporting a judicial review of the decision.
In response to civil society campaigning and litigation, the UK government recently imposed a partial ban on arms sales to Israel. However, it only cancelled 30 out of 350 licences, which civil society saw as largely symbolic and insufficient. Civil society organisations (CSOs) had challenged UK arms exports to Israel at the High Court, arguing that many of these exports contribute to war crimes and human rights abuses in Gaza. While the ban is a step in the right direction, it falls short because it doesn’t apply to other key exports, such as parts for F-35 jets that are being used to drop bombs on Gaza.
