§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied that no arms were exported to Liberia from the crown dependencies during the period of three years and five months when the UN embargo was in force in the United Kingdom but not in the dependencies; and UN embargoes were applied in the crown dependencies and dependent territories at the same time as in the United Kingdom 20WA in the cases of Iraq, Libya, and Angola, but not in the cases of Somalia, Liberia or Rwanda.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyAs the report by the Inter-Departmental Committee on Trafficking in Arms makes clear, once the United Nations Security Council adopts an arms embargo, the export of arms from the UK to the embargoed destination is prohibited with immediate effect using the Export of Goods (Control) Order made under Section 1 of the Import, Export and Customs Powers (Defence) Act 1939. The Isle of Man is treated as part of the United Kingdom for the purposes of the Act. As for the Channel Islands, the authorities there refer any application for a licence to export controlled goods to the DTI for advice. Licences are only granted where DTI has no objections. No licences have been granted for the export of controlled goods to Liberia from the crown dependencies since 19th November 1992 when UNSCR 788 was adopted.
As for trafficking of arms to Liberia, we are unaware of any evidence of such activity from the crown dependencies. The report by the inter-departmental committee highlighted the lack of consistency in implementing arms embargoes in the UK, its dependent territories and the crown dependencies. The Government have accepted all the committee's recommendations, which should ensure that all future embargoes are applied in a timely and accurate fashion. Work is in hand to rectify the results of past shortcomings in procedures.