§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether in their view British arms exported to (a) Turkey and (b) Indonesia have been used in the last five years for internal repression or the control of illegally occupied territories.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanNo formal procedures have existed for routinely monitoring the use that has been made of British defence equipment, once exported. We are aware of concerns expressed in the media and elsewhere that, in the past, UK defence equipment exported to Indonesia, and UK-designed vehicles manufactured under licence in Turkey, may have been used for purposes of internal repression.
We have made a firm commitment not to allow the sale of arms to regimes that might use them for internal repression or international aggression. To give effect to that commitment, we have initiated an urgent review of the criteria used in considering licence applications for the export of conventional arms. We are also committed to strengthen monitoring of the end-use of defence exports to prevent diversion to third countries and to ensure that exported equipment is used only on the conditions under which the export licence has been granted.