Saudi Arabia: Human Rights — Question

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:30 pm on 30 March 2011.

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Photo of Lord Howell of Guildford Lord Howell of Guildford Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (International Energy Policy) 3:30, 30 March 2011

All questions on arms exports are under review, as the noble Lord may know, and we have grave concerns about the use of crowd-control equipment. Because of those concerns, a review of the whole policy and practice of Her Majesty's Government on the export of equipment that could be used for internal repression-in particular, crowd-control goods-has been commissioned and is under way. As to the noble Lord's question on Bahrain, the Saudi forces are there to protect installations-or so it is reported to me. That may not be 100 per cent accurate, but that is the intention. The Saudis share the same goals as the Government of Bahrain, which are, of course, to have a dialogue on reform and to address the concerns of the Bahraini people. That is very different from some other countries in the region. However, it is a tricky situation that we are watching very closely.