MoD Gives Military Training To Over A Dozen Countries With Poor Human Rights Records
4 min read
The UK has provided military training for more than a dozen countries listed by the government as having poor human rights records.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request showed that, since 2021, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has provided UK-based training to more than 100 countries between 2021-2024.
The countries included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Uzbekistan – all of which are named on the government’s human rights priority countries list published in 2024.
Also listed were several countries that have been engaged in conflict with one another, such as Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have fought over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh this decade. Neither country is on the human rights priority list.
India and Pakistan – the latter of which is on the list – have been in conflict numerous times in recent decades and dispute each other’s claims to the region of Kashmir. Both countries also received MoD military training, according to the FoI response.
Helen Maguire MP, the Liberal Democrats' defence spokesperson, told PoliticsHome: "What this data makes clear is that government departments are working in silos and without a unifying vision.
"The government should clarify what this training looks like in practice, particularly whether it includes a focus on strengthening an understanding and observance of human rights within the relevant countries' militaries."
Military training from the British armed forces can range from the use of artillery and explosives to catering and music courses. It is not clear from the FOI response what specific training courses each listed country’s military received.
A previous FOI request that also asked for military training provided by the MoD based outside of the UK was refused on the basis that it would exceed cost and time limits.
Government sources stress that all recipients of training are internationally recognized governments.
Campaigners have long criticised the UK’s sale of arms and provision of military training and assistance to nations with poor human rights records.
Kirsten Bayes, a spokesperson for the pressure group Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), told PoliticsHome: "The UK government has long tried to draw the line between weapons that might be used for internal repression and those used for so-called ‘foreign defence’, which supposedly makes it okay to sell repressive regimes major weapons systems.
“Unfortunately, recent experience is that these countries may well use these weapons to target neighbouring countries' civilian populations.
“It is wrong to be selling weapons and training into an unstable region, to regimes that put no weight on civilian life.”
Most of the countries listed are not on the human rights priority list, with many being NATO allies of the UK, such as the United States, France and Germany.
Non-NATO countries include Australia, Ireland, Japan and Ukraine – the latter of which has received considerable military aid from Britain in resisting Russia’s invasion.
Israel, which is also listed all three years, had around 30 of 350 arms licenses from the UK suspended last September over concerns they might be used to break international humanitarian law.
Palestine, which is not recognised as a state by the UK, was also a recipient of military training in 2021/22 and 2022/23.
CAAT also criticised UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in Riyadh’s campaign in Yemen – where a bloody civil war has resulted in thousands of Yemenis killed and a humanitarian emergency.
Russia, China, North Korea and Iran – listed by the UK as human rights priority countries and described as a "deadly quartet" by former NATO general secretary George Robertson – had not received domestic training.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “Defence engagement makes an important contribution to international diplomacy.
"Military support is determined on a country-by-country basis, often including the provision of peacekeeping, medical, and language training.
“Our engagements undergo a thorough assessment for potential risks relating to human rights and international law, along with options to mitigate them and opportunities to promote compliance with international standards, including International Humanitarian Law.”
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