§ Mrs. ClwydTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answers of 9 December,Official Report, columns 29–30, relating to armoured vehicles exports, what assessment his Department made of the conformity of the sales with international conventions relating (a) the sale of arms to the prevailing human rights in destination countries and (b) the transfer of equipment to its possible end use to suppress human rights. [10737]
§ Mr. HanleyI have been asked to reply.
Our policy is not to license for export any UK defence equipment which we judge likely to be used for internal repression. Such human rights considerations were taken fully into account before the decision was taken to allow the export of this equipment in accordance with international criteria.
§ Mrs. ClwydTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answers of 9 December,Official Report, columns 29–30, relating to the issue of export licences to Indonesia what account his Department took of international criteria for military exports relating to the behaviour of the buyer country with regard to international law; and what view his Department took of Indonesia's observance of international laws in respect of East Timor. [10736]
§ Mr. HanleyI have been asked to reply.
We do not recognise Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor. We fully support the efforts of the UN Secretary General to find a just and comprehensive settlement to the question of East Timor, and we continue to raise with the Indonesian Government our concerns about the situation in East Timor.
Along with several of our EU partners, we do not consider that Indonesia's annexation of East Timor precludes the sale of defence equipment to Indonesia. Indonesia plays a leading role in regional and international forums and is a major contributor to peacekeeping forces.
Under article 51 of the United Nations charter, every sovereign state has a legitimate right to self-defence. We continue to consider licence applications for the export of defence equipment on a case by case basis. We do not licence for export any equipment which we judge likely to be used for internal repression in Indonesia or East Timor. We remain committed to the criteria agreed by the UN, the EU and the then Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, which are intended to guide national decision-making.
§ Mrs. ClwydTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answers of 9 December,Official Report, columns 29–30, relating to exports of armoured vehicles to Indonesia, what account his Department took of the use by the Indonesian army in April 1996 of previously exported armoured vehicles to counter student demonstrations; and what assurances his Department has received from the Indonesian authorities regarding the future use of the vehicles. [10757]
§ Mr. HanleyI have been asked to reply.
We have investigated the reports of the April 1996 incident in South Sulawesi and have discussed it with the Indonesian authorities. The Indonesians have themselves 420W acknowledged that the way in which this equipment was used was inappropriate, and a number of soldiers have been tried and sentenced for excessive use of force. These considerations were taken fully into account before the decision was taken to allow the export of armoured vehicles for the Indonesian military.
We have received assurances from the Indonesian authorities that British-supplied military equipment will not be used against civilians in Indonesia or East Timor.