Britain

Last week, the University of Southampton joined the growing list of Universities who have decided to take a stance against investments in the arms trade. In this article Sebastian, Odell of Southampton University explains what’s happened and how students forced the university into taking action.

By Tom Esslemont, allAfrica

London — Sierra Leone's government helped British private security service firms recruit former child soldiers to work as guards in Iraq from 2009, said a Danish academic who has spent years investigating the issue.

Thousands of children were forced to fight in Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. More than 50,000 people were killed in the fighting and many tens of thousands more mutilated or raped by rebels.

By 2009, with Iraq in chaos, impoverished Sierra Leone was looking for a way to engage its workforce, said Maya Mynster Christensen, a researcher at the Danish Institute Against Torture who made repeated trips to the West African country.

Russia Today

With recruitment in crisis, the British Army is teaming up with private firms to encourage their workers to join the Armed Forces’ “woefully undermanned” reserves.

The army now has a group of officers at its Hampshire HQ who are dedicated “accounts managers,” building relationships between business and the military, according to reports.

The initiative is led by reservist Major General John Crackett. He told the Financial Times on Tuesday his corporate background has prepared him for the role.

“I’m a businessman more than I’m an army officer,” he said, claiming he is well placed to interpret what businesses want.

He said the military must get better at marketing itself by focusing on what it could offer employers.

by Rachel Melly

Last week two of the world’s largest arms companies gave a talk at the University of Liverpool.

About 50% of Thales’s business is in arms, including mortar systems, rocket systems for helicopters, precision-guided munitions, military vehicles, missiles, and small arms and ammunition. They sells arms to many oppressive regimes, including Bahrain, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE, and collaborate with Israeli arms company Elbit to develop drones.

Rolls-Royce manufacture 25% of all military jet engines globally, that are used by 160 different armed forces, in 103 different countries. They also manufacture nuclear reactors for Trident submarines. Their arms customers include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey