Judge acknowledges serious human rights violations Egypt, but still allows arms exports

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November 23, 2021
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The District Court of The Hague today, Tuesday, Nov. 23 2021, ruled in proceedings on arms exports to Egypt. The court found that the serious human rights situation in Egypt is “a given,” but that fact does not lead to a ruling that arms exports may no longer take place. The plaintiffs, a coalition of peace and human rights organizations PAX, Stop Arms Trade and the Dutch Legal Committee for Human Rights (NJCM), are now considering further legal action.

Anna Timmerman, director of PAX calls the judge’s conclusion disappointing because the judge should have held the State to the rules more strictly. “The Netherlands is bound by international rules on arms trade. We continue to believe that exporting arms to the regime in Egypt must stop, because human lives are at stake.”

Lack of information

The judge found that the organizations should have done a better job of proving that arms supply to Egypt is a problem. According to the NGOs, it is precisely the Dutch State that must make it plausible that there is no risk of these weapons being used in human rights violations. The reputation of General Al-Sisi’s armed forces is very bad. The organizations point out that the State has information from intelligence services to which they have precisely no access. Also, journalists are not allowed in areas where the worst human rights violations are committed. When in doubt about the human rights situation, arms deals should be rejected, the NGOs say, so that is different from what the State is doing.

Ruling is a step forward

Mr. Jelle Klaas, of PILP and lawyer for the organizations in these proceedings, explains: ,,It is a good step that the judge has looked at the substance of the case. It is just a pity that the judge did not follow the peace and human rights organizations in their views. As far as we are concerned, it is obvious that these are deliveries in violation of human rights.” He then states that “it is unfortunate that the judge draws this conclusion from these facts.” Internationally, it is quite unique for a judge to rule on the substance of an arms export license at all.

One Egyptian military

At the hearing, the NGOs showed a video from the Egyptian military itself, in which civilians are shot and naval vessels are shown. Wendela de Vries of Stop Arms Trade: “The Netherlands acts as if the Egyptian navy is separate from the rest of the armed forces. Partly because of the deployment of Special Forces, the Egyptian ‘Navy Seals’, it is very plausible that Dutch military systems can also be used in the human rights violations of the Egyptian armed forces. Extremely disappointing that the court did not want to put a stop to this.”

Read more about arms exports and human rights here.

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