The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 Business leaders also started an initiative against the death penalty by launching a declaration in March 2021. The campaign is co-ordinated by the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, and received support by a number of global business leaders.274 In March 2021, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted Recom­ mendation CM/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,275 following the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH)’s recommendation of December 2020.276 The recommendation calls on Council of Europe member states to, “prohibit the import, export and transit of equipment and goods, and the supply of technical assistance and training relating to such equipment and goods, which have no practical use other than the infliction of the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” It provides a detailed list of items for which the import, export and transit should be prohibited, such as gas chambers, guillotines, or electric chairs. The recommendation calls on member states to establish legal frameworks which control the flow of goods used to inflict the death penalty, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Relating to the trade in goods used to execute death sentences, the UN Secretary General issued a report entitled, “Towards torture-free trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards” in July 2020.277 The report mapped the views of Member States on the feasibility and scope of a range of options to establish international standards for the import, export and transfer of goods used for capital punishment – as well as for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The information received indicated considerable differences in the regulation of the trade in those goods, and the report concluded that the establishment of a common international standard could ensure more effective regulation.278 274 Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty and Dominic Rushe, ‘Inhumane and flawed’: global business leaders urge governments to end death penalty, The Guardian, 18 March 221. Among the business leaders who participated in the campaign there are Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post, and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Ben & Jerry, among others. 275 Ministers’ Deputies, Recommendation CM/Rec(2021)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on measures against the trade in goods used for the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, CM/Rec(2021)2, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 31 March 2021 at the 1400th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies, 31 March 2021. 276 Steering Committee for Human Rights, Report, CDDH(2020)R93, 27 January 2021. 277 United Nations Digital Library, Report of the Secretary-General, “Towards torture-free trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards”, UN Doc. A/74/969, 28 July 2020. 278 Ibid., para. 40. 62