Research methodology Research for this report was carried out by the Omega Research Foundation (Omega) during 2017 and early January 2018. It included direct surveying of companies engaged in the security/law enforcement equipment trade. The dataset of information about companies involved in this trade on which this report draws has been maintained and updated by Omega, which has researched the global police and security equipment market since 1990. Omega carries out market surveying on a continuous basis and gathers current as well as historical market, product and trade data from a wide range of open and commercial sources. These include information from company websites and brochures; industry sector publications; government publications; company and financial information from national company registries; government- and commercially-produced trade statistics; media organisations; and credible reports and publications by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international governmental organizations (IGOs). Unless otherwise stated, data about the size, scope and evolution of the manufacture, promotion and trade of law enforcement equipment is taken from Omega’s datasets. Any information, including photographs, provided in relation to specific companies is for illustrative purposes. Unless otherwise stated, it is not intended to infer wrong-doing on the part of these companies and no such inference should be drawn. The report also draws upon the detailed documentation of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment within the CoE region published by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), and also incorporates research by UN human rights monitoring bodies and international nongovernmental human rights organisations, notably Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Whilst the primary research and substantive drafting of this report was undertaken by Omega during 2017 and early January 2018; Section 1 was subsequently updated to reflect the recent attention given to this issue by CoE bodies, notably the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which resulted in the adoption of PACE Recommendation 2123 (2018). 11