§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What mechanism exists within the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for considering allegations of the use of weapons and equipment in a manner that contravenes the OSCE's "Principles Governing Conventional Arms Transfers" of November 1993; and whether they will refer the allegations contained in the Human Rights Watch Arms Project report, Weapons Transfers and Violations of the Laws of War in Turkey to the chairman in office, with a view to having them considered by the Committee of Ministers.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)We consider on a case by case basis the use to which defence equipment is likely to be put and do not permit the export of equipment which is likely to contravene the OSCE's Principles Governing Conventional Arms Transfers or any of the other international guidelines to which we adhere.
Under paragraph 5 (c) of the "Principles", OSCE participating states are committed to exchanging information within the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) about national legislation and practices in the field of conventional arms transfers. Implementation of the "Principles" is thus a proper topic of discussion for the FSC, and a Seminar on Conventional Arms Transfers was held in Vienna in June. Furthermore, any OSCE participating state may raise in the FSC any question relevant to its work, at any time.
We do not plan to refer the allegations contained in the Human Rights Watch Arms Project report to the chairman in office. It is however open to the Human Rights Watch Arms Project to submit a case to the chairman in office through the Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, requesting that these allegations are discussed.