Amnesty welcomes halting of Scottish funding for defence companies involved in Israel

Reacting to the First Minister’s announcement that Scottish support for defence companies involved in Israel will be halted, Amnesty International’s acting Scotland Programme Director Liz Thomson said:

“Amnesty has been calling on the Scottish Government to end any risk of complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in relation to arms funding for some time. 

"Recently we met with Scottish Enterprise and made clear our analysis that Scottish public funding may be contributing to violations of international humanitarian law, including genocide.

"We are glad that we have at last been listened to and welcome the First Minister's intervention. If implemented fully it will be a very meaningful step towards Scotland playing its small but significant part to bring about an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"Of course the UK Government can choose to stop arming the genocide today and we must keep pushing  Ministers to immediately halt all arms transfers. Anything less makes a mockery of the UK’s stated commitment to human rights, the rule of law, and the principles of the Genocide Convention.

"In Scotland we will continue to press for reform of the human rights due diligence process at Scottish Enterprise. Going forward it will be vital that proces is fit for purpose and that the human rights impact of companies' operations always meaningfully inform decision making."