Netherlands Bans Weapons Exports to Saudi Arabia

The Dutch parliament has voted to ban arms exports to Saudi Arabia in protest against the kingdom's humanitarian and rights violations.


It sees the Netherlands become the first EU country to put in practice a motion by the European Parliament in February urging a bloc-wide Saudi arms embargo.


The bill, voted through by Dutch MPs on Tuesday, quoted UN figures which suggest almost 6,000 people - half of them civilians - have been killed since Saudi-led troops entered the conflict in Yemen. It also cited the mass execution of 47 people, largely political dissidents, ordered by the Saudi judiciary on 2 January this year.


The vote adds to the growing pressure on Britain, one of the main arms suppliers to Riyadh, to reconsider its stance.


According to Campaign Against Arms Trade figures from the start of the year, the UK has sold more than £5.6 billion worth of weapons to the Saudi government under David Cameron.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/netherlands-votes-to-ban-weapons-exports-to-saudi-arabia-a6933996.html


Kudos to the Netherlands is all I can say. Time for the UK to follow suit and end its complicity in war-crimes committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.