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Campaign Against Arms Trade
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Campaign Against Arms Trade
The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a UK-based campaigning organisation working towards the abolition of the international arms trade. It was founded in 1974 by a coalition of peace groups. It has been involved in several high-profile campaigns, including a legal challenge against the Serious Fraud Office's decision to suspend a corruption investigation into BAE Systems in 2007. On 27 September 2012, it was honoured with a Right Livelihood Award for its "innovative and effective campaigning".
Campaigns are founded on research into the arms trade and arms companies, and their relationship with the UK government and military, through political, financial and military support. The focus is on arms exports, although they recognise that there is a close relationship with military procurement. The research places particular emphasis on debunking myths and exposing hidden features of the arms trade, and large government subsidies given to the arms industry, largely through government research and development but also through export credits, government promotion and military attaches. In 2011, it commissioned the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to calculate the costs of these subsidies - the figure it arrived at was £698 million annually.
The campaign has published briefings on the arms trade, including An introduction to the Arms Trade - An introduction to the impact of the arms trade, how it works, and the main justifications for the arms trade (latest edition April 2011) and Private gain, public pain - The case for ending the Government's arms selling and shutting the UKTI's Defence & Security Organisation (May 2010). It publishes a quarterly magazine, CAATnews, which is sent to supporters.
The website contains information about the arms trade, arms companies and campaigning material. A relatively recent addition is an Arms Trade App, which reveals in an accessible format the details of UK "strategic export" licences, including military equipment, issued by the Export Control Organisation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This makes previously difficult or inaccessible information available to public view and CAAT sees it as a valuable campaigning tool in helping to hold the government to account. In 2013, in collaboration with the European Network Against Arms Trade, they launched a European Union Arms Export Browser which breaks down the complex data in the EU annual reports on arms exports in an accessible manner, by year, supplier country, destination country and types of military hardware.
In 2024, CAAT, in collaboration with Demilitarise Education (dED), published Weaponising Universities: Research Collaborations between UK Universities and the Military–Industrial Complex, a report investigating the growing role of UK universities in supporting the arms industry and military research. The lead researcher was Okopi Ajonye, working on behalf of Demilitarise Education. The report reveals how universities are increasingly embedded within what it terms the “Military–Industrial–Academic Complex” (MIAC), contributing to research on autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence, and other emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs). It also introduces the concept of Militarised Environmental Technologies (METs), where environmental innovations are adapted for military use—raising concerns about the “greenwashing” of warfare. Case studies on Imperial College London, the University of Southampton, and Lancaster University expose significant partnerships with arms companies. The report concludes with calls for transparency, ethical divestment, and a reorientation of university research towards peace, justice, and the public good.
It has adopted and adapted different campaign targets and slogans. From 2011 the main campaign slogan has been "This is NOT OK". The Arab Spring of 2011 vindicated CAAT's focus on UK weapons sales to authoritarian regimes in the region, and helped to give the campaign greater visibility in the media and with the public.
CAAT has long campaigned against BAE Systems, highlighting allegations of corruption and political influence, rebuking claims about jobs, attending AGMs as critical shareholders, and through legal action.
In September 1985 BAE was a signatory to the UK's largest ever arms deal, the Al Yamamah contract to sell and service military planes to the government of Saudi Arabia. This ongoing contact has evolved through several phases and by 2006 had brought them £43 billion.
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Campaign Against Arms Trade
The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a UK-based campaigning organisation working towards the abolition of the international arms trade. It was founded in 1974 by a coalition of peace groups. It has been involved in several high-profile campaigns, including a legal challenge against the Serious Fraud Office's decision to suspend a corruption investigation into BAE Systems in 2007. On 27 September 2012, it was honoured with a Right Livelihood Award for its "innovative and effective campaigning".
Campaigns are founded on research into the arms trade and arms companies, and their relationship with the UK government and military, through political, financial and military support. The focus is on arms exports, although they recognise that there is a close relationship with military procurement. The research places particular emphasis on debunking myths and exposing hidden features of the arms trade, and large government subsidies given to the arms industry, largely through government research and development but also through export credits, government promotion and military attaches. In 2011, it commissioned the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to calculate the costs of these subsidies - the figure it arrived at was £698 million annually.
The campaign has published briefings on the arms trade, including An introduction to the Arms Trade - An introduction to the impact of the arms trade, how it works, and the main justifications for the arms trade (latest edition April 2011) and Private gain, public pain - The case for ending the Government's arms selling and shutting the UKTI's Defence & Security Organisation (May 2010). It publishes a quarterly magazine, CAATnews, which is sent to supporters.
The website contains information about the arms trade, arms companies and campaigning material. A relatively recent addition is an Arms Trade App, which reveals in an accessible format the details of UK "strategic export" licences, including military equipment, issued by the Export Control Organisation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This makes previously difficult or inaccessible information available to public view and CAAT sees it as a valuable campaigning tool in helping to hold the government to account. In 2013, in collaboration with the European Network Against Arms Trade, they launched a European Union Arms Export Browser which breaks down the complex data in the EU annual reports on arms exports in an accessible manner, by year, supplier country, destination country and types of military hardware.
In 2024, CAAT, in collaboration with Demilitarise Education (dED), published Weaponising Universities: Research Collaborations between UK Universities and the Military–Industrial Complex, a report investigating the growing role of UK universities in supporting the arms industry and military research. The lead researcher was Okopi Ajonye, working on behalf of Demilitarise Education. The report reveals how universities are increasingly embedded within what it terms the “Military–Industrial–Academic Complex” (MIAC), contributing to research on autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence, and other emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs). It also introduces the concept of Militarised Environmental Technologies (METs), where environmental innovations are adapted for military use—raising concerns about the “greenwashing” of warfare. Case studies on Imperial College London, the University of Southampton, and Lancaster University expose significant partnerships with arms companies. The report concludes with calls for transparency, ethical divestment, and a reorientation of university research towards peace, justice, and the public good.
It has adopted and adapted different campaign targets and slogans. From 2011 the main campaign slogan has been "This is NOT OK". The Arab Spring of 2011 vindicated CAAT's focus on UK weapons sales to authoritarian regimes in the region, and helped to give the campaign greater visibility in the media and with the public.
CAAT has long campaigned against BAE Systems, highlighting allegations of corruption and political influence, rebuking claims about jobs, attending AGMs as critical shareholders, and through legal action.
In September 1985 BAE was a signatory to the UK's largest ever arms deal, the Al Yamamah contract to sell and service military planes to the government of Saudi Arabia. This ongoing contact has evolved through several phases and by 2006 had brought them £43 billion.