The sale of eighty Rafale fighter jets from France to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2021 underscored the robust military export relationship between the two nations. This deal, emerging from President Macron’s Gulf tour, highlights France’s strong presence in the region’s defense sector. However, beneath the surface of this lucrative partnership lies a darker reality, as explored in the report “Arms sales: France and the United Arab Emirates, partners in the crimes committed in Yemen?” by FIDH and its partner organizations.
This investigative report, compiled between April 2019 and April 2021, delves into the complex dynamics of the France-UAE alliance and its implications for human rights. Organizations including Mwatana for Human Rights, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), the Human Rights League (LDH), and the Observatoire des armements collaborated to uncover the potential complicity of French companies and the French state in crimes committed by the UAE, particularly in the context of the Yemen conflict.
France’s Legal Obligations and the Reality of Arms Exports
French law stipulates a principle of prohibition on military equipment exports, requiring government authorization to ensure that “Made In France” weapons do not contribute to conflicts or human rights abuses. Despite this legal framework, the UAE, a major purchaser of French arms and a strategic ally, is deeply involved in the Yemen war, a conflict described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with nearly 400,000 lives lost.
France’s ascent to become the world’s third-largest military equipment exporter by 2020 demonstrates its commercial success in the arms industry. However, this achievement is overshadowed by the fact that a significant portion of these exports goes to regimes, like the UAE, accused of violating international human rights and humanitarian law. The intricate partnership between France and the UAE exemplifies how political, military, and industrial ties can be leveraged to potentially circumvent international legal and ethical standards governing the arms trade. This relationship reveals a system that appears designed to bypass crucial safeguards.
The UAE as a Hub for French Military Exports
Over the last decade, the growth of technology transfers and the establishment of major French industrial presences in Abu Dhabi have transformed the UAE into the fifth largest customer for French military equipment. The Gulf region, in this context, operates as a “grey zone” where French equipment can be traded, manufactured, or transited with minimal oversight. This lack of effective democratic control and transparency has been a long-standing concern, especially concerning surveillance equipment previously supplied to Egypt.
Unpacking the France-UAE Strategic Partnership and Yemen Conflict
The report meticulously outlines France’s legal responsibilities regarding arms exports and provides evidence of the UAE’s involvement in the Yemen conflict and associated human rights violations. It includes direct testimonies from victims of these abuses, bringing a human dimension to the analysis. Furthermore, the report examines the evolution of the strategic partnership between France and the UAE. It details how this partnership facilitates direct arms exports, the transfer of French technological expertise, joint arms development projects (sometimes involving other nations like Germany and the UK), and the production of arms by foreign subsidiaries of French companies.
Calls for Accountability and Transparency
The findings of the report reinforce the long-standing demands of FIDH and its partners. A primary recommendation is to impose a ban on arms and surveillance technology exports to the UAE as long as credible allegations of serious human rights violations persist against UAE authorities, military forces, and affiliated groups, both domestically and in conflict zones like Yemen. This ban should remain in place until thorough and impartial investigations into these abuses are conducted.
Moreover, the report advocates for the establishment of a permanent parliamentary commission of inquiry. This commission would be responsible for systematic, both proactive and reactive, oversight of France’s arms and surveillance equipment exports to regions at risk of instability and human rights violations. Finally, the report urges a reform of the authorization process for exporting arms and dual-use equipment, citing the current process’s alarming lack of transparency and potential for misuse.
In conclusion, the “Emirates Partners” relationship in the context of arms trade demands closer scrutiny. While economically beneficial for France, this partnership raises serious ethical and legal questions, particularly concerning its potential contribution to human rights abuses in Yemen. Greater transparency, stricter export controls, and robust parliamentary oversight are essential to ensure that France’s pursuit of military export success does not come at the cost of its international human rights commitments.
