On the eve of the plenary session vote, in Strasbourg on Tuesday 4 October, on the draft revised regulation banning the trade in equipment which may be used for the death penalty, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the NGO Amnesty International brought pressure to bear on the European Parliament, calling upon it to tighten up the EU's legislative arsenal.
The European Parliament is to take position on Tuesday on the inter-institutional agreement concluded in trialogue with the Council and the Commission on 24 May of this year and approved by the committee on international trade on 14 July (see EUROPE 11594).
"The global market is rife with sinister equipment like leg chains and spike batons which can easily be turned into tools of torture. Introducing tighter EU restrictions on the sale, brokering and promotion of these devices will bring us a step closer to eradicating this shameful trade. For too long, companies have been able to profit from human suffering. This vote is an opportunity for the EU to send the message that it will not tolerate torture", Amnesty International stresses in a press release.
Amnesty International and the Omega Foundation have long been campaigning to close the loopholes in the 2005 regulation allowing businesses based in the EU and trading in the EU openly to promote equipment banned under the regulation, but which can be advertised on the internet and at trade fairs.
By way of example, Amnesty International refers to catalogues advertising handcuffs, spiked batons and weighted leg restraints that were distributed at the Milipol exhibition in Paris in November 2015. The NGO also spoke out against the recent online advertising of the German company PKI Electronic Intelligence for banned 60,000 volt electronic stun handcuffs with the tagline "You never saw an escaping person stop so quickly!"
The package of amendments on which the MEPs will take position includes a raft of measures that Amnesty International and Omega have been campaigning for.
These measures include: an explicit ban on the transit through the EU of equipment specially designed for torture, ill-treatment or execution; a ban on brokering activities by EU-based companies when prohibited goods do not touch EU soil; a ban on providing training and technical assistance in the use of prohibited equipment; and an emergency procedure that will enable the EU to more quickly put in place controls for new types of equipment judged to be inherently abusive.
Additionally, Amnesty International and Omega are calling for EU businesses to be prevented from providing training to police and security forces throughout the world in techniques that could be defined as torture or other ill-treatment. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)