Canada to promote extra arms to Qatar at the same time as scrutiny of human rights file intensifies3 hours in the past

Alongside a stretch of freeway resulting in Qatar’s Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the positioning of a number of World Cup matches, runs an extended, sand-coloured wall dotted with turrets. That is Barzan Camp, house to the Amiri Guard, an elite army unit tasked with defending the nation’s ruling Al Thani household.

The Al Thanis have been in energy for the reason that mid-1800s, as Qatar transitioned from an Ottoman after which British territory to, in 1971, an impartial state – and, with the invention of oil and pure fuel reserves, an more and more rich one and an ally of Western international locations, together with Canada.

Qatar’s rulers have lavished an excellent chunk of that wealth on the nation’s residents, investing in infrastructure and growth and making Qataris among the many richest folks on the planet, with free well being care, electrical energy and training. This has ensured comparatively sturdy help for the royal household and staved off the kind of well-liked unrest seen in different elements of the Center East.

The World Cup, with its US$220-billion price ticket, has been a significant a part of this effort, bringing nice status to Qatar as the primary Muslim nation to ever host the match. However the competitors has additionally introduced intense scrutiny of the nation’s file on human rights, notably its remedy of migrant staff and criminalization of homosexuality.

Many of those criticisms had been made when the emirate gained the rights to host the World Cup in 2010, however they returned to the fore 100 days out in August, as a number of human-rights teams launched renewed campaigns.

Additionally in August, Canada added Qatar to the Computerized Firearms Nation Management Listing (AFCCL), which regulates the weapons and army gear that may be bought to a given nation. That transfer didn’t must be accepted by Parliament and was introduced within the Canada Gazette, the federal government’s official newspaper, which publishes new laws and notices. It attracted little media or political scrutiny, at the same time as criticism of the match’s host nation continued to construct this fall.

Qatar has invested closely in its army lately, with arms imports up 227 per cent within the interval spanning 2017 by way of 2021, in contrast with the earlier 4 years, based on the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute (SIPRI), propelling Qatar from the world’s Twenty second-largest arms importer to the sixth.

In 2021 alone, the emirate spent about US$11.2-billion on its army – about 20 per cent of presidency spending, or 4.8 per cent of the emirate’s GDP – SIPRI information exhibits. Per capita, Qatar spent about $3,955 on weapons, greater than double the expenditure of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, although Riyadh’s complete army price range dwarfs that of Qatar.

Samuel Perlo-Freeman, the analysis co-ordinator on the U.Okay.-based Marketing campaign In opposition to Arms Commerce, mentioned the SIPRI figures are doubtless an underestimation, given Qatar’s lack of transparency on the matter. And what few contracts have been made public will be considerably unusual, Dr. Perlo-Freeman mentioned, comparable to Qatar’s buy of comparable fighter planes from France, america and Britain.

“To have three sorts of plane from totally different international locations, with related capabilities however totally different upkeep necessities, doesn’t make any army sense,” he mentioned. “The obvious motive for them to embark on such enormous arms offers is to curry diplomatic favour with main Western powers.”

Western help, notably from the U.S. and Britain, was very important in enabling Qatar to withstand a Saudi-led blockade that started in 2017 and was lifted solely final yr. The conflict in Yemen, which Qatar initially participated in, has additionally ramped up regional tensions.

However whereas big-ticket arms offers are doubtless aimed toward holding off potential aggressors, Dr. Perlo-Freeman mentioned there’s one other main incentive for Doha to construct up its army. Autocratic regimes “do typically have arms for the aim of exterior defence,” however “one of many major causes is to protect towards any inside opposition, to keep up their energy.”

David Carrying, a lecturer in worldwide relations on the College of Sussex and an professional on the Gulf area, mentioned the trendy Qatari state, as with different Arab autocracies, was “midwifed” by the British, whose political and army help helped preclude any push towards democracy seen in different elements of the previous empire.

“The British ensured that these states developed as they did, i.e. as monarchies with well-equipped and well-trained safety forces particularly designed to maintain the inhabitants down,” he mentioned. “The fear being that, if these regimes had been ever overthrown, you may’t predict what would occur subsequent. Would the successor authorities be as pleasant to the West?”

To at the present time, Britain stays a significant weapons provider to Qatar, together with the U.S., France and Italy. Canada has to this point been a comparatively small participant on this regard, however that seems to be altering.

In 2018, Canada issued six export permits for “army items and know-how” to Qatar, a fraction of the quantity accepted for Saudi Arabia. The next yr, that jumped to 26, all for “floor automobiles and elements therefor, specifically designed or modified for army use.” Since then, Canada has additionally bought Qatar gear for goal acquisition or bombing management, plane and UAVs, based on authorities information.

Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher at Challenge Ploughshares and a number one professional on Canadian arms gross sales, mentioned the spike in 2019 “seemed to be tied to the export of armoured automobiles” from Ontario-based Terradyne. The automobiles have been documented on the bottom in Qatar and are normally used “by particular forces and anti-riot police,” Mr. Gallagher mentioned.

Terradyne didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Whereas exports lately haven’t matched these of 2019, a number of specialists who spoke to The Globe and Mail mentioned Qatar’s addition to the AFCCL is probably going indicative of a significant deal within the works, such because the one which led to the creation of the listing within the first place: the sale of Canadian-made gentle armoured automobiles (LAVs) geared up with large-calibre computerized weapons to Saudi Arabia.

The sale of LAVs to Saudi Arabia turned vastly controversial after automobiles made by Canadian producer Terradyne had been seen getting used throughout unrest within the kingdom’s Jap Province.

After the Saudi controversy, in April, 2020, Ottawa introduced “the creation of an arm’s-length advisory panel of specialists” to evaluation weapons gross sales. There is no such thing as a proof any such panel has ever met, and International Affairs Canada didn’t reply to particular questions on it.

“All export allow purposes for managed objects proceed to be reviewed below Canada’s sturdy threat evaluation framework,” Jason Kung, a spokesman for International Affairs, advised The Globe.

“The truth that a rustic is listed on the AFCCL doesn’t assure {that a} allow can be issued to export prohibited objects to that nation,” Mr. Kung added. “Allow purposes to export prohibited objects to AFCCL locations are all assessed on a case-by-case foundation towards standards specified by each coverage and laws.”

He mentioned customary consultations had been carried out in Qatar’s case, together with between Canada’s ministers of international affairs and nationwide defence.

Based on the report revealed within the Canada Gazette, the federal government additionally “consulted Canadians” by way of an internet platform on the proposal so as to add Qatar in March, 2022, the identical month Canada certified for the World Cup. “5 feedback had been obtained from numerous individuals, together with 4 business representatives and a civil society group,” the report mentioned, including that these had been “supportive, indicated no issues, or had been impartial” on the problem.

NDP international affairs critic Heather McPherson advised The Globe her social gathering was “very involved” about Qatar’s addition to the AFCCL, given the “extraordinarily severe human-rights violations” in that nation.

“The Liberal authorities has been hypocritical of arms gross sales and human rights for years,” she mentioned. “Whereas successive ministers of international affairs below the Liberal authorities have mentioned they are going to deny allow purposes the place there’s a substantial threat of human-rights violations, they’ve ignored ample proof of those violations.”

Mr. Gallagher mentioned that when there’s public scrutiny of arms offers, it normally focuses on whether or not a state may use the weaponry to wage conflict. However below the Arms Commerce Treaty, to which Canada is a signatory, events “even have to contemplate the danger that their arms exports violate worldwide human rights regulation,” he mentioned.

“By arming these despotic regimes to the enamel, we’re completely upholding autocracy all over the world,” he mentioned. “With out the flexibility to acquire enormous quantities of weapons programs, these regimes wouldn’t have the identical potential to crack down on dissent.”

Dr. Carrying added that it was additionally a mistake to imagine – as many Western international locations have – that arms despatched to states comparable to Qatar would solely be used for defence.

“As we’ve seen prior to now 10 years particularly, for those who give international locations large weapons programs, they’re not going to essentially maintain them in a warehouse,” he mentioned. “Sending extra weapons into the area is contributing to those international locations pursuing extra aggressive and interventionist insurance policies and projecting their army energy across the area.”

Editor’s observe: An earlier model of this text incorrectly cited a 2017 report about Saudi Arabia cracking down towards protesters. The automobiles in query had been produced by Terradyne, not Common Dynamics.