BAE-Systems: DESTROYING THE WORLD IN OUR NAME
[Flyer on our BAE Systems page]
BAE Systems is the world’s fourth-largest arms producer, selling
weapons to countries that violate human rights and indiscriminately kill children, women and other non-combatants.
It makes profits from nuclear weapons systems like Trident, designed to cause mass destruction and humanitarian suffering if used.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lack of respiratory
equipment for our hospitals, it’s good to hear that BAE has started to make ventilators for the NHS. But this begs the question: since life is so precious, why is BAE still squandering most of its skills (and our money) on nuclear and other inhumane weapons?
BAE profits from weapons that destroy people’s lives
• In 2018, BAE received £1.3 billion from UK Ministry of Defence
arms contracts. BAE also sold arms to 22 of the 30 countries on the UK Government’s own human rights watch list (2010-2018).
• Over 100,000 people have been killed in Yemen since 2015,
including 12,000 civilians in directly targeted attacks.
“Every day Yemen is hit by British bombs – dropped by British planes that are flown by British-trained pilots and maintained and prepared inside Saudi Arabia by thousands of British contractors.” (Guardian, 2019)
BAE also sells sophisticated spyware and surveillance systems to many autocratic regimes in the Middle East and beyond, which play key roles in the persecution of pro-democracy activists around the world.
Stop BAE destroying our climate
If BAE diversified from weapons production to much-needed health and sustainable energy equipment, it would also cut its carbon footprint, which was 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 in 2017/18.
• Military activities cause around 6% of annual global carbon
emissions. Compare this to global food production, which feeds the whole world while producing only 10% of CO2 emissions.
• Studies also show that around 20% of environmental destruction around the world is caused by militarism, war and related activities.
• The operations, products and services of BAE and other big arms manufacturers are major contributors to all this climate and
environmental damage. BAE violates international law by
producing and profiteering from inhumane weapons and equipment that are sold to human rights violators.
BAE nuclear weapons delivery systems and related production
violate the UN’s 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.