Haviv Rettig Gur
“None of the actual reasons provided in legal policy paper amount to serious violations of IHL. This makes explanation of decision to suspend export licenses legally insufficient, which means it is purely a political - and not legal - decision.”
Dr. Brian L. Cox
2/ Let's start with the actual controlling policy/legal standard. Policy paper linked above recaps relevant standard, captured in 1st pic below. Note red highlight on serious violation of IHL in the legal standard, bc this is important. None of the actual reasons provided in legal policy paper amount to serious violations of IHL. This makes explanation of decision to suspend export licenses legally insufficient, which means it is purely a political - and not legal - decision. Policy paper indicates that several factors "were key to the judgement" that UK "must" suspend export licenses (2nd pic). It is worth noting that this domestic policy & legal framework is consistent with obligations reflected in Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which UK + all EU countries have ratified. EU has its own internal standard that no longer applies to UK, but both UK & EU standards are consistent w/ATT. So, the analysis below can be extended to any State Party to ATT (including all EU Member States) that may be considering similar policy to this one announced today by UK.
