Germany seeks to ban arms export to UAE

Germany is discussing a new bill that would ban weapons from being sold to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey for their involvement in wars in Syria and Yemen.

The bill, introduced by the social-democratic opposition party Die Linke, aims to ban the sale of “weapons and all other related goods and services” to countries that may use them to commit human rights violations.

The draft bill mostly targets Saudi Arabia and the UAE, waging a proxy war in Yemen, which has cost thousands of people's lives over the last few years.

In January, the German government already announced it would halt all arms exports to countries involved in the ongoing war in Yemen, but this bill would expand on that by also working retroactively on deals already made.