Charities warn Australia’s approach undermines global efforts to prevent foreign weapons being used in the war

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Australian manufacturer of weapons systems being sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has maintained none of its products have ever been used in Yemen.

The chief executive of EOS Defence Systems, Ben Greene, defended the company against suggestions its equipment had been, would be, or could be used in any human rights violations.

Greene also said the equipment sent to the UAE was only a demonstration unit ahead of future sales.

Last week it was revealed the Australian government had approved the export of Australian weapons systems to the two Gulf nations, despite global concern about the supply of weapons to countries in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which has been accused of human rights violations and atrocities.

Photographs taken inside Sydney’s international airport showed the shipments were destined to Saudi and UAE government forces, with some sent the same week a UK court ruled it illegal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

The photographs also identified the sellers as Australian firm Electro Optics Systems (EOS), and ATK Alliance Techsystems Operations (Orbital ATK), a US-based company which sells EOS equipment.

Australian weapons shipped to Saudi and UAE as war rages in Yemen Read more

EOS was first identified as a supplier in December, but it would not confirm who the buyer was, instead saying only that its products had never gone to Yemen.

In the wake of last week’s story, EOS maintained its assertion that “no EOS product has, at any time, been deployed to or used in Yemen”.

“Furthermore, no EOS product has been supplied to military forces which have been or are currently deployed to Yemen.”

Internal documents obtained by the ABC showed the company previously said that Saudi Arabia’s ministry of interior, to whom the weapons were intended, had no mandate to operate beyond the Saudi-Yemen border.

Greene told Guardian Australia he had personally gone through reported lists of human rights violations in Yemen, and confirmed none involved equipment which EOS or its competitors produced.

Greene said the equipment sent to Saudi Arabia was supplied for US programs to support the Saudi Ministry of Interior for its border operations, and did not cross over.

“We are physically in contact with the equipment,” he said. “We’ve got to install it and maintain it.”

He said EOS employees or local Saudi contractors would perform maintenance on the equipment every few weeks on average, which could range from cracked glass to bullet holes.

He said much of the equipment sent to Saudi Arabia had not left warehouses yet.

Asked about the shipments to the UAE, Greene said “nothing has been delivered to the UAE”.

Asked about a photograph of a shipment inside Sydney airport, which listed the beneficiary as the UAE Armed Forces Joint Logistics Command in Abu Dhabi, Greene first said the photo could be faked, or that the shipment was either still at the airport or in the air.

The photographed label shows the package was consigned to EOS’s Abu Dhabi office. Greene said the EOS office was the recipient of the system and the UAE Armed Forces were listed as beneficiary because it had to approve the import licence.

It was the first time the R400S system had been sent to EOS in the UAE, he said, and related to a $450m contract announced in February for remote weapon systems for UAE Navy and for critical UAE infrastructure protection.

“It has no lethality whatsoever, its purpose is only for demonstration and test,” said Greene.

“It’s tested in advance of future shipments which might happen.

“Subsequently at some stage later on, if the shipments start under the contract we’ve already announced, that could make up part of our shipments.”

Charities have warned Australia’s approach is undermining global efforts to prevent foreign weapons being used in the war in Yemen. Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Germany have all refused to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. In February, Germany extended its arms exports ban despite pressure to back down.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has previously threatened to cancel a multimillion-dollar defence contract in response to the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Save the Children’s policy and advocacy adviser, Kavitha Suthanthiraraj, said Australia should follow Europe’s lead. Suthanthiraraj said the conflict had already resulted in the deaths of 85,000 children “from causes including starvation, malnutrition and disease”.

“The reported sale and export of Australian-made weapon systems to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is deeply concerning and undermine global efforts to prevent foreign weapons being used in the war in Yemen,” she said.

“Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been accused of extensive human rights abuses in Yemen, including the targeting of civilians, which the UN said may amount to war crimes.”

Ghassan Hage, a spokesman for the Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, urged the Australian government to “respect and carefully consider” the decisions of those countries which have stopped or are considering ending exports to the Saudi-led coalition.

“Australia is obligated by international standards [set] on 24 December 2014 when Australia became a signatory to the international Arms Trade Treaty,” he said.

“We must prevent our national industry from getting involved in human rights violations.”