GENEVA - The Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, has welcomed the adoption by the European Union on 31 July of revised lists that prohibit and control the use and export of law enforcement instruments that are either inherently torturous or can be misused to torture.
"By expanding the types of law enforcement equipment that are subject to oversight and scrutiny, the amended regulation will significantly strengthen protections against torture and other ill-treatment facilitated by means of weaponry and equipment," she said as she welcomed the amended regulation.
"Gang chains, leg irons, hoods and blindfolds, weighted batons, lathis and sjamboks, and metal body armour with spikes or serrations have all been added to the list of prohibited items," the expert said. "These weapons have no place in law enforcement as they can devastate individuals through life-changing injuries or even death."
"I also welcome the addition of stronger exclusions of weapons used in riot control or self-protection", the expert said. "Specific modes of dispersal of chemical irritants or impact projectiles and related ammunition such as aerial platforms or fixed equipment in prisons, are now banned."
"It is encouraging to see such progress in a rather bleak period where security forces are routinely overstepping the rules of human rights-compatible crowd control methods. Now, these and other items - which inflict excessive pain or are inaccurate and indiscriminate - can no longer be used, marketed, or supplied by EU countries."
At the 2023 United Nations General Assembly the Special Rapporteur called on States to introduce a global agreement to govern the use and trade in law enforcement items with the view to prevent torture and other degrading treatment. She presented a list of 20 different types of torture instruments that are currently widely in use, yet which are inherently torturous. The amended EU anti-torture regulation has incorporated many of the items on the Special Rapporteur's own list of prohibited goods.
"Regulatory measures in Europe are a positive example of how to end this widespread and booming trade in torture tools, however the challenge is global," she said.
"For this reason, I call on all States to get involved in the work towards an international agreement. Companies, too, should become key stakeholders in this endeavor. This is not an anti-trade or anti-business proposal. It is anti-torture."
