May prepared to trample on human rights to secure trade deal with Saudi
mohammad-bin-salman

May prepared to trample on human rights to secure trade deal with Saudi

Date: 6 March 2018
Campaigns: Trade

Campaigners protest the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to UK

Speaking ahead of the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Global Justice Now’s director Nick Dearden said:
“Tomorrow we will see what ‘Global Britain’ means in practice. The British Prime Minister will kowtow to one of the world’s worst human rights abusers in a desperate bid to sign a trade deal and secure investment in the City of London.

“No price is too high, it seems, when it comes to this government’s desperate attempt to escape their Brexit chaos. We’ve heard about trading away food standards with Trump but this is a new low – courting one of the most repressive governments in the world to keep the oil wealth flowing into London, with all the inequality that brings to the UK and the Middle East.

“Theresa May and Boris Johnson are prepared to trample on human rights to deal with Saudi. They say they want to discuss resolving the situation in Yemen. But the man they will roll the red carpet out for tomorrow is more responsible than anyone else for the devastation and the human rights catastrophe which is taking place in that country. Yet we go on arming and trading with those perpetuating these monstrous activities. The loss of life, the suffering, the poverty now facing Yemen seem to matter nothing to this government.

“We encourage everyone to show their opposition to this visit tomorrow – by coming to Downing Street at 5pm and demonstrating that this visit is not in our name.”


Photo: U.S. Department of State