Canada's Arms Sales To Ukraine Opposed By Human Rights Groups

OTTAWA — Two human-rights groups have teamed up to oppose a plan by the outgoing Conservative government to allow the sale of so-called prohibited weapons to Ukraine, including automatic assault rifles and armoured vehicles.

Amnesty International Canada and Project Ploughshares have written to the Department of Foreign Affairs expressing concern about the potential consequences of adding the embattled eastern European government to the list of countries to which Canada can sell automatic firearms.

There are 39 countries on Canada's automatic firearms country control list, including Saudi Arabia, to whom General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ont., recently sold $13 billion in armoured vehicles despite the opposition of human rights groups.

Foreign Affairs has been in the process of consulting on the Ukraine proposal since it was introduced last summer, around the time Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a free trade agreement with the country's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/02/human-rights-groups-team-up-to-oppose-canada-selling-arms-to-ukraine_n_8454372.html