Joint Briefing: Tackling the Trade in Tools of Torture and Execution Technologies

Joint briefing paper by Omega and Amnesty International on equipment currently being manufactured, promoted, exported and misused that urgently needs to be banned or more robustly regulated.

Drawing on research by Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation, this briefing paper examines mechanical restraints, direct contact electric shock devices, riot control agents, kinetic impact devices, training in potentially abusive techniques and pharmaceutical chemicals used in lethal injections, citing cases from around the world of their misuse in torture and other ill-treatment and for carrying out the death penalty. It explores what measures States have so far taken to combat this trade and recommends the adoption of further measures to end the trade in "tools of torture" and execution technologies.