Since 2015, the level of violence in Yemen has grown significantly. In March of this year, Saudi Arabia decided to head a military coalition to reinstate the government of Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The war has had devastating effects on the population: there have been thousands of civilian victims, and it has dragged the country into an enormous humanitarian crisis. In fact, it is currently seen as one of the world’s most serious current crises. Over the last five years, the United Nations and several humanitarian and human rights NGOs have constantly denounced the serious abuses committed by different actors as a result of the armed conflict in Yemen. In particular, they have criticized the international coalition led by Saudi Arabia for its role in extremely fatal attacks against Yemeni civilians. Despite this record, many European states, including Spain, have continued to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. This is an infringement of several international and European regulations, including the International Arms Trade Treaty.

This report by the Escola de Cultura de Pau, Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau and Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya analyses the dynamics of conflict in Yemen, the Saudi implication and its consequences; exposes the continuity of arms flows despite numerous denounces of abuses; and offers recommendations to European and the Spanish governments. The circumstances in Yemen require an urgent change of policy. Specific, categorical measures must be adopted to halt the sale and transfer of arms to Saudi Arabia, encourage the de-escalation of the violence, promote political solutions to the conflict, and provide immediate assistance for the country’s urgent humanitarian needs.

Authors: Pamela Urrutia Arestizábal (main author, Escola de Cultura de Pau); Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto and Jordi Calvo Rufanges (arms trade, Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau); and Karlos Castilla (Human Rights, IDHC)

Read and download the full Policy Paper in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

The EU’s willingness to increase military spending and encourage the arms sector

The European Commission announced in 2016 the EU’s intention to implement a Fund to finance the research and development of military products and technology. The Fund will be endowed with 13 billion euros from the Union’s budgets for the period of 2021-2027. It is also foreseen that, in the development projects, the Member States will commit to contribute 80% of the costs. It is estimated that the sum of the resources coming from the Community budget and the resources coming from the state budgets of the Member States, will exceed 50 billion euros. The European defence and security industry and military research centers will be the ones who will carry out this investigation and benefit from grants from the Fund. It will be the first time that the EU will allocate resources to strictly military research.

The European defence industry played a crucial role in the decision to implement this Fund. In 2015, the European Commission created a Group of Personalities with the mission of advising on military research, with an important representation of that sector. The Fund’s proposal came from that Group of Personalities. It is an analogous process to the one that, in the past decade, led to European programs of security research funding.

Authors: Teresa de Fortuny and Xavier Bohigas

You can consult and download the full Working Paper in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

Asia and the Middle East, the main destinations of Spanish weapons

Spanish arms exports reached two highs in 2017. Actually made exports during the year, which reached a total of 4,347 million euros; as well as export authorizations which, with a record increase of 280% with respect to the previous year, rose up to 21.085 million euros. This is analyzed by the Working Paper of the Delàs Centre of Studies for Peace "Spanish exports of arms 2017. Asia and the Middle East, the main destinations of Spanish weapons", an update for 2017 of the reports carried out by researchers Tica Font and Eduardo Melero, on Spanish arms exports.

You can consult and download the full Working Paper in Spanish, in English and in Catalan.

Analysis of the budget of Defense in 2018

Authors: Pere Ortega and Xavier Bohigas

The Working Paper of May 2018 analyzes the military expenditure of the General State Budget for 2018. It presents an increase in military spending of 10.5% with respect to 2017, this increase confirms the political will of the Minister of Defense, María Dolores de Cospedal, to reach a level of 2% of GDP allocated for military spending by the year 2024.

The Paper also analyzes the actual military expenditure of the Spanish State, for which it is necessary to take into account certain line items from other ministries’ budgets. Armament investments, maintenance of the armed forces, R & D and military operations abroad are some of the analyzed expenses.

You can download the Working Paper in English here, also available in Spanish and in Catalan.

 Sumario:

 - Refugiados de nuestras guerras, Editorial.

 - Los hidrocarburos y la guerra de Siria, Pere Ortega.

 - Refugiados y Europa, Andrea Jiménez.

 - Las ciudades no tienen que ser objetivo de combate, Tica Font.

 - Pedro Morenés, un paradigma de puerta giratoria, Xavier Bohigas y Teresa de Fortuny.

Para descargar el documento haga clic aquí

 Sumario:

- Es necesario abolir las armas nucleares, Editorial.

- Contribución de las empresas españolas a la financiación del armamento nuclear, Xavier Bohigas y Teresa de Fortuny.

- Situación actual del arsenal nuclear mundial, Teresa de Fortuny y Xavier Bohigas.

- Mi llamamiento al mundo, Masashi Ieshima.

- Mi experiencia de un bombardeo y el deseo por un mundo en paz libre de armas nucleares, Kuniko Kimura.

Para descargar el documento haga clic aquí. 

Sumario:

- Inseguridad nacional, Editorial.

- Las nuevas armas digitales, Pere Brunet.

- La NSA y la vigilancia masiva de las telecomunicaciones globales: ¿una amenaza para los derechos humanos?, Enric Luján.

- Dinero, poder y opacidad en las instituciones europeas:un paraíso para el lobby militar, Chloé Meulewaeter.

Para descargar el documento haga clic aquí.

Sumario:

- Quince años trabajando por la paz y el desarme.

- Celebración del 15 aniversario.

- Grandes frases de la historia, El Jueves.

- Tráficodearmas, Lluïsot.

- ¡DiosMío!, JL Martín.

- Deshechos históricos, Julio A. Serrano.

- El ataque de los drones, Mario Morales y Juanjo Cuerda.

Para descargar el documento haga clic aquí.