German church group slams Berlin’s contradictory arms policy

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - A German church organization on Tuesday criticized the government for its surging arms exports, saying it was in contradiction to Berlin’s efforts to promote global disarmament.

“In fact, it is a contradiction that the Federal Republic of Germany is on one hand a large arms exporter and thus contributes to the fact that many arms are distributed at all,” said Karl Justen, head of the Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE), in an interview with Anadolu Agency in Berlin.

“On the other hand, the federal (German) government has clearly set itself the goal of helping to bring about a disarmament agreement and has declared this to be an important political goal. This is basically a contradiction and it reminds me a bit of the situation in the 80s and 90s when the world was also highly armed,” he added.

The center-left government coalition has repeatedly claimed it would increasingly use criteria such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the recipient country when making decisions about arms exports.

At the same time, export licenses worth 4.14 billion euros were issued in the first six months of this year -- a significant increase compared to the same period last year, which can be explained, among other things, by the military support given to Ukraine, according to the annual report of the Joint Conference Church and Development released earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the church stressed arms exports to Ukraine are in fact lawful and legitimate.

“The churches have agreed that arms can be delivered to Ukraine because it is about the people's right to self-defense and unfortunately there is still war in Ukraine,” said Justen, whose group calls for stricter government regulation of arms exports.

Germany has been a staunch ally of Ukraine in its war with Russia, committing 1.2 billion euros ($1.16 billion) in military aid to Ukraine.

The military aid includes weapons and equipment as well as financial aid with military purpose. In terms of absolute spending, Germany ranks ahead of France but behind both the United Kingdom and Poland.

Both the scope and quantity of Germany’s military support for Ukraine have expanded since the beginning of the war in late February.

Berlin started by providing basic equipment, such as helmets, and it is now delivering heavy weapons including rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers, anti-aircraft guns, armored personnel vehicles and air defense system.