While acts of torture and other ill-treatment can be committed using any number of items, it is often the case that State officials use specialist equipment. Some equipment is inherently abusive and should never be used by law enforcement officers. Other law enforcement equipment may have a legitimate role in human rights-compliant policing, but is often used in a way that violates human rights, including being used in acts of torture and other ill-treatment.
Omega Research Foundation – with civil society and human rights leaders from around the world – are calling for national, regional, and international controls on the trade in this equipment, to prohibit the trade in inherently abusive equipment and robustly control the trade in other kinds to ensure such equipment is not used in torture or other ill-treatment.
While the trade in law enforcement equipment used in torture is global, this paper exposes the trade in equipment used for torture in the European region between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2023.
