The defence sector plays an important yet often overlooked role in the supply of military goods and services to countries involved in committing human rights violations, argues Amnesty International. For their report "Outsourcing Responsibilty", the organisation contacted 22 arms companies asking them to explain how they meet their human rights responsibilties under internationally recognised standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights.

The report focuses on the eight companies that supply military equipment and services to the Saudi Arabia/UAE-led coalition party to the ongoing conflict in Yemen, and found that none were undertaking adequate human rights due diligence. Amnesty International is calling on defence companies to

• vet clients’ past performance against human rights benchmarks;
• build high expectations of compliance with international human rights law into contracts;
• continuously monitor and periodically audit client performance; and
• use leverage to influence the behaviour of clients.

The full report, as well as companies' responses to the report, are available below.