To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the end-users of British arms supplied to Iraq, including whether any supplies have gone to the People's Mobilization Units to be used in violations of humanitarian law.
Answered on
30 January 2017
The only Iraqi forces to whom the UK has gifted weapons and ammunition are the Kurdish Peshmerga. We have not gifted weapons to any other armed forces, including the People's Mobilisation Units. The UK continues to support Iraqi, including Kurdish, security forces in their fight against Daesh. Arms and ammunition gifted to the Kurdish Regional Government were provided with the full support of the government of Iraq.
The UK carefully assesses all gifts of equipment against the EU Consolidated Criteria on a case by case basis. This requires us to consider the risk of equipment being used for internal repression, whether it could provoke or prolong internal or regional conflict, and whether equipment could end up in the hands of undesirable users. We will not permit an export if we judge that the risks exceed the threshold set out in the criteria. We are content with the controls the Kurdish Regional Government has in place for distribution and use of UK-supplied weaponry.