Is Australia indirectly contributing to the bloodshed in Sudan?
AWPR sent the following letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong to raise concerns about military exports to the UAE.
14 November 2025
Dear Senator Wong
Like many Australians our organisation is extremely concerned and disturbed about the recent reports of the mass killing of civilians in Sudan and in particular in the city of El Fasher.
The latest media reports are truly horrendous and indicate that thousands of unarmed civilians have been massacred including over 400 people at a maternity hospital.
While we applaud the Australian government’s decision to increase humanitarian aid to the region, there are a number of alarming issues surrounding military exports that need to be urgently addressed.
As you are no doubt aware the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is accused of providing weapons and resources to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, who are responsible for widespread killings.
Despite these credible accusations against the UAE government Australia continues to export military equipment to the UAE.
In recent years the Australian Defence Department has approved over 200 export permits to the UAE, and no applications were denied.
This appears to be at odds with our legal obligation to ensure that we do not contribute to human rights abuses overseas. These decisions were made without any parliamentary oversight or vote.
In our view the government should immediately review all current exports to the UAE and Sudan to ensure our equipment is not being misused.
In August AWPR joined with 60 other civil society groups to call for an inquiry into military exports more broadly. The current system is not fully transparent and needs to be overhauled in our view.
The appalling developments in Sudan graphically highlight the need for such an inquiry.
We look forward to hearing your views on the matters we have raised.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Bartlett
President
Australians for War Powers Reform
