On 31st March 2021, the Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers adopted Recommendation Rec(2021)2 on measures against the trade in goods used for the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This landmark instrument calls on all 46 CoE member States to establish national measures to prohibit inherently abusive equipment; and regulate the export of law enforcement equipment that could be misused for torture and other ill-treatment, and regulate export of certain pharmaceutical chemicals misused for lethal injection executions.
Since its adoption, Omega has promoted and sought to facilitate implementation of this instrument by all CoE member States. Together with Amnesty International we have just produced an awareness-raising video for State officials, torture prevention bodies and civil society.
On Wednesday 27 November 2024 Omega took part in an international Workshop “Strengthening Multilateral Efforts to Curb Trade in Torture and Death Penalty Goods” in Strasbourg hosted by the CoE Steering Committee for Human Rights for CoE member States, which was streamed online.
The Workshop provided a valuable opportunity to discuss how member States are implementing the Recommendation and how they can further develop this work. It also examined the need for international cooperation on legal and practical measures in CoE member States and beyond, including development of international standards through the UN. The event brought together the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice Jill Edwards; Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE’s General Rapporteur on the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Gala Veldhoen; national experts; representatives of the European Union, and civil society.