HRW: Trump bypassing Arms Control Pact to sell large armed drones
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch said that the US President Donald Trump plans to allow the sale of advanced armed drones to other nations and bypass part of an international weapons export control agreement that the United States helped forge more than three decades ago.
Iran Press/ America: Kenneth Roth wrote on Twitter:
Trump plans to breach yet another international agreement so the US can sell large armed drones to the likes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates despite their history of bombing civilians in Yemen. https://t.co/XdYgQt5nVv pic.twitter.com/BMTLyA1zJE
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) July 25, 2020
US administration officials have debated for years how to sell the armed drones despite clauses in the agreement, known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, that prevent its 35 members from doing so.
The agreement is not legally binding and is treated as an understanding among its member nations.
But circumventing one part of the pact could undermine the agreement in general and encourage other nations to selectively ignore or reinterpret clauses that they find inconvenient.
The Trump administration, though, has shown disdain for the concept of international agreements and has withdrawn from several major ones that previous administrations had negotiated with world powers, including the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal.
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