BERLIN
The German government approved exports of small arms and ammunition amounting to 135 million euros in 2013, an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.
At least 35 million euros worth of small arms alone was sold to Saudi Arabia last year, which is considered controversial due to human rights violations there.
However, the topic of small arms sales is contentious in itself as these shipments have a tendency to end up being used in civil wars or international conflicts. According to estimates from Amnesty International up to 400,000 people were killed with such small arms in 2012.
Left Party Foreign Policy expert, Jan van Aken, has criticized the German governments export policy saying "the exports of small arms bring death and suffering too many people in the world. These are the weapons with which dictators oppress their people."
The data on Germany’s small arms exports was released after a written request from the country's opposition parties.
Small arms are considered to consist of revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, assault rifles, submachine guns and light machine guns.
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