London Mayoral Candidates - Stop DSEI

IMPORTANT: Please only take this action if you are in Greater London. If you are outside Greater London and wish to take action, please write to the Secretary of State for International Trade, asking the Government to end all support for DSEI.

In September 2021, Defence and Security Equipment International, the world’s largest arms fair, returns to London. At DSEI, weapons and military technology will be marketed to representatives of repressive states fuelling racism and injustice.

The London Mayor has a platform to protest against this heinous event taking place in our city.

We are therefore asking candidates in the May election to commit, if elected, to:

Publicly state that DSEI is unwelcome in the city and runs counter to the values of City Hall.
Use the Mayor’s discretion to recover the costs of policing the event from DSEI’s organisers.
Commit to do everything in your power to stop DSEI from returning to London.

Sadiq Khan, Labour Party

Luisa Porritt, Liberal Democrats

Shaun Bailey, Conservative Party

Sian Berry, Green Party

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Subject

In September 2021, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), the world’s largest arms fair, returns to London. At DSEI, weapons and military technology will be marketed to representatives of repressive states fuelling racism and injustice. 
I believe that DSEI runs counter to the values of City Hall and is unwelcome in London. If elected as the Mayor, you would have a platform to protest against this heinous event taking place in our city.
Through DSEI, London will play host to delegations from a range of human rights abusing states, who will look to buy and sell repressive military technology.
This includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE. The Saudi-led coalition, of which Bahrain and the UAE are part, has subjected Yemen to a ceasless bombardment for almost 6 years, creating the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe. As documented by grassroots human rights groups on the ground, including <a href="https://mwatana.org/en/i-ripped-iv-out-of-my-arm">Mwatana,</a> and international organisations <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/09/yemen-the-forgotten-war/">Amnesty International,</a> <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/yemen">Human Rights Watch</a>, and the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1079232">United Nations</a>, the Saudi-led coalition has committed a litany of violations of international law, killing thousands of Yemeni civilians.
In addition, Israel is a seasoned attendee of the fair. Israel operates an oppressive regime of military control over the Palestinian people in the territory it illegally occupies, as part of a system of racial discrimination over all Palestinian people. A range of scholars, legal experts and human rights organisations, including recently Israel’s largest NGO <a href="https://www.btselem.org/apartheid">B’Tselem</a>, have noted that this system amounts to the crime of apartheid under international law.
Part of this system includes subjecting Palestinians in besieged Gaza to regular indiscriminate bombardments. The <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/coigazaconflict/pages/commissionofinquiry.aspx">UN Commission of Enquiry</a> into Israel’s 2014 aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza found reasonable grounds to believe that Israel had committed war crimes in its indiscriminate targeting of civilians.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
Over the last five City Hall has rightly committed itself to playing an active role in the struggle for human rights, whether through committing to be an <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-declares-city-hall-an-anti-racist-body">actively anti-racist organisation,</a> or through the Mayor acting as Human Rights Champion for the UNOHCHR ‘Stand Up’ campaign.
DSEI runs counter to City Hall’s stated commitments to human rights and equality.
We therefore ask that you commit, if elected, to:
<ol>
<li>Publicly state that DSEI is unwelcome in the city and runs counter to the values of City Hall.</li>
<li>Use the Mayor’s discretion to recover the costs of policing the event from DSEI’s organisers.</li>
<li>Commit to do everything in your power to stop DSEI from returning to London.</li>
</ol>

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London Mayoral Candidates - Stop DSEI