PILP-NJCM and peace organizations PAX and Stop Wapenhandel are appealing the judgment of the district court Noord Holland in the case on the arms trade license for Egypt. According to the court, the NGOs' case was inadmissible.

Arms trade and human rights

The Netherlands is the ninth-biggest arms exporter in the world. The Netherlands issues arms export licenses worth around 1 billion euros annually, some destined for conflict areas or areas with a problematic human rights situation. As such, weapons have been exported from the Netherlands to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Pakistan in the past.

Every large export has to be licensed by the government in a separate procedure. The European Union and the United Nations have devised rules for this procedure. It should in theory take into account conflict situations and human rights violations, but the question is whether that always happens in practice.

Appeal against Egypt trade

PILP-NJCM and the peace organizations PAX and Stop Wapenhandel have appealed the granting of an arms trade license to Egypt by the Dutch government. According to these organizations, the license should not have been granted: the government has not, or has insufficiently, taken into consideration human rights and the Egyptian involvement in the war in Yemen.

The Dutch court decided last August that the organizations cannot challenge the arms export license in court, because the customs legislation of the European Union only allows for parties that are directly and individually affected by the delivery. The court’s judgment stated that by adopting the European legislation, the Dutch legislature thereby rendered the Dutch law that would have been allowed the groups to challenge the license inoperative.

Only arms suppliers themselves may challenge arms trading permits, sidelining other interest groups.

PILP-NJCM and peace organizations PAX and Stop Wapenhandel are appealing this judgment of the district court of Noord Holland in the case on the arms trade license for Egypt.

The organizations do not agree with the court's decision. They think they should be qualified as interested parties, especially in cases where arms are exported to a country where severe human rights violations are taking place.

This is what the appeal is about.

You can read the notice of appeal here (in Dutch). More information on the prior proceedings can be read in the file on arms trade and human rights.