On Tuesday, a federal court of Canada rejected a lawsuit that attempted to block the export of $15 billion of armored combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
The court justified this rejection on the grounds that Canada’s foreign minister has the authority to allow said exports without a court judgement on how moral the exports are.
Justice Danièle Tremblay-Lamer stated in her ruling that the court’s role “is not to pass moral judgments on the minister’s decision to issue the export permits but only to make sure of the legality of such a decision.”
Saudi Arabia is accused of committing many brutal and atrocious war crimes in Yemen against Zaidi Muslims; many have referred to their actions as a genocide. Saudi Arabia has been intervening in the Yemeni civil war since March of 2015, and many attacks and airstrikes carried out by Saudi Arabia have been considered war crimes. It is estimated that at least 60% of the over 4,000 civilian deaths over the course of the civil war were a result of Saudi Arabian airstrikes.
This $15 billion export is the largest advanced-manufacturing export in Canadian history. Canada has previously exported armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia, but none of Canada’s previous dealings have come anywhere close to this one in size. The United States and Great Britain also provide weapons and military support to Saudi Arabia.
The armored vehicles themselves will be equipped with medium-gauge machine guns or anti-tank cannons.
By providing aid in the form of weaponry and military support, the governments of Canada, the United States, and Great Britain have all shown that they are morally complicit in any war crimes against the people of Yemen.
Photo Credit: Ox Glennwhite
Nicholas Amato
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