Workshop at the European Parliament, “European arms trade & human rights: The case of Yemen and the alleged War Crimes”

Wednesday 18th May, the European Parliament will host the Workshop “European arms trade and human rights: The case of Yemen and alleged war crimes” organized by the Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Mwatana for Human Rights, European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The event will take place at 11:30 a.m., gathering European peace and human rights entities and organizations.

Programme:

11:30h Welcome

Manu Pineda (The Left; Subcommittee on Human Rights and Subcommittee on Security and Defence)

Hannah Neumann (The Greens/EFA; Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Subcommittee on Security and Defence)

11:40h Reports’ presentation “European arms exports and alleged war crimes in Yemen“

Two reports will be presented:

The first report is the result of a joint effort by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau and Amnesty International (Spain), based on the work conducted by ECCHR with the support of Centre Delàs for the Spanish case, and Mwatana for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Rete Disarmo and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) for the entire Communication that was submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in December 2019. The report maps the links between Spanish arms transfers and alleged war crimes in the Yemen war between 2015 and the first semester of 2021, the last year with official information on Spanish arms exports at the time of writing this briefing paper.

The second report, prepared by FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), its member organisations Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Mwatana for Human Rights and Observatoire des Armements, reveals how France failed to respect some of its international human rights obligations by exporting arms to and developing a strategic partnership with the United Arab Emirates—a country that has been involved in human rights violations in Yemen.

Christian Schliemann-Radbruc (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights)

Jordi Calvo Rufanges (Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau)

Abdulrasheed Al-Faqih (Mwatana for Human Rights)

Speaker TBC (International Federation for Human Rights)

12:00-13:15h Open debate: 

Is European arms trade compatible with the EU and Member States’ human rights commitments?

Will participate:

Roy Isbister- Saferworld

Saskia Basa- Quaker Council for European Affairs

Bram Vranken – Vredesactie

13:15-13:30h Closure

Manu Pineda (GUE & Subcommittee on Security and Defence)

Jordi Calvo Rufanges (Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau)

Christian Schliemann-Radbruc (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights)

Hannah Neumann (Greens, Subcommittee on Human Rights, Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula)

The Workshop “European arms trade & human rights: The case of Yemen and the alleged War Crimes” is organised with the support of the Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament.

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