Annex C
FURTHER LETTER FROM THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH
OFFICE TO THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE
Thank you for your letter of 16 September, received
24 September, to Foreign Office Minister Mr Rammell about Indonesia.
Your letter has been passed to me for reply.
I will answer each of your questions in turn:
(a)
The assurances that British-built military equipment
would not be used offensively or in violation of human rights
apply to all British-built military equipment in Indonesia.
(b)
We were bringing our practice in this aspect into
line with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing
Criteria, which the British Government assesses its export licences
against, and which does not impose geographical limits on the
deployment of controlled goods.
(c)
As Parliament was in recess at the time of the change
in the Indonesian assurances, no announcement was made. However,
given the importance of the change, the Foreign Secretary wrote
to the Chairman of the Quadripartite Committee, and a copy of
the letter was placed in the Libraries of both the House of Commons
and the House of Lords. There is no Hansard reference.
The British Government does not want to see
British-built military equipment contribute to human rights abuses
or fuel conflicts overseas. We take any reports of British built
military equipment being used in violation of the Indonesian assurances
extremely seriously. Where we have substantiated evidence that
British-built equipment is being used in violation of the assurances,
we would take immediate action.
October 2003
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