AMNESTY International has warned that Scottish Government checks on grants offered to arms firms are “not fit for purpose”.
It comes as the charity revealed that no arms company in receipt of a Scottish Enterprise grant – even those linked to states who have breached international law and who have been accused of war crimes - has ever failed a human rights check.
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests also showed that, since the beginning of 2023, over £3.5 million of Scottish public money was paid to major arms companies.
This includes grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to defence companies who have supplied arms to Israel amid its deadly and devastating war on Gaza.
For example, BAE Systems Surface Ships LTD received £360,000 from Scottish Enterprise in the first half of 2024.
Leonardo, meanwhile, received £786,125 in 2023 and Raytheon received £500k in the first half of 2024.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly insisted that no public funding goes towards the manufacturing of munitions specifically but other areas these companies operate in, including research, training and apprenticeships.
Scottish Enterprise, meanwhile, has strongly denied its human rights checks were not adequate.
But an Amnesty FOI also showed that the PCS union – which represents civil servants within Scottish Enterprise – raised concerns earlier this year that their members, should Israel be found to have broken international law, would be “potentially complicit” in war crimes.
In a letter to Kate Forbes (above), Amnesty’s Scotland director Neil Cowan wrote of Amnesty’s concern that the current process at Scottish Enterprise is “inadequate and failing” to ensure Scotland upholds its international obligations.
He added: “This casts serious doubt upon the credibility and effectiveness of a process that should be designed to protect against human rights abuses and not to waive through companies whose activities are linked to such abuses.
Cowan went on: “Ultimately it is wholly unsatisfactory to claim Scottish Enterprise grants are not involved in the manufacture of arms without an ongoing monitoring process in place which takes account of the complexity of international manufacture and supply chains.
“Amnesty is calling for an urgent review of Scottish Enterprise’s funding for arms companies. The review should seek to determine whether public funding in any way contributes to the supply of weapons or their components to any state accused of international humanitarian law violations or crimes against humanity.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie (above), meanwhile, said: “"This isn't a question of due diligence, it is a question of basic ethics and principles.
"The SNP has rightly stood against the war crimes and genocide being inflicted on Gaza and the UK government's complicity in it, but has point blank refused to stop bankrolling the companies who are profiteering from the destruction. It is disgraceful.
"Scottish Enterprise is a public body and should be working for the public good and to support the companies and industries that are working for a fairer, greener country, not pouring money into some of the world's biggest arms dealers.
"After more than 12 months of bombardment and violence against Palestinians, the Scottish Government must finally live up to its principles and end its support for arms companies."
A spokesperson for Scottish Enterprise said: “As the national and international economic development agency for Scotland, supporting long-term economic growth and creating high-value jobs is at the heart of everything we do.
“Our support is consistent with Scottish and UK Government policies, which is why our Human Rights Due Diligence checks are fully compliant with Scottish Government guidance.
“We take our role in fulfilling human rights due diligence checks for the companies we work with seriously. We update our procedures as guidance evolves, for example an updated Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ database of companies active in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was recently added to the list of independent resources that we use to perform our checks.
“We make it clear to companies, through legally binding contracts, that our funding and support can only be used to deliver agreed projects in Scotland. None of the projects we support involve the manufacture of munitions or weaponry.
“Taking all of this together, we strongly refute any suggestion that our human rights checks do not adequately meet the published guidance in relation to our role and remit.”
