The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 In December 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a statement welcoming the Global Alliance for Torture-Free Trade initiative.279 This Alliance is an initiative of Argentina, the EU and Mongolia which includes countries from around the world, and aims at ending the trade in goods used for capital punishment and torture.280 In order to inform the deliberations at the UN, in December 2020 Amnesty International and Omega Research Foundation released a report titled, “Ending the Torture Trade: The Path to Global Controls on the ‘Tools of Torture’.”281 It includes a call for the prohibition of devices that are specifically designed to carry out executions, like electric chairs or automatic lethal injection devices, as well as trade controls on dual use pharmaceutical goods used in lethal injection protocols. Efforts to tackle the trade in goods related to the death penalty also advanced at the level of the EU. On 30 July 2020, the European Commission presented its report to the European Parliament and to the European Council on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 of 16 January 2019 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (often referred to as the ‘Anti-Torture’ Regulation). The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the regulation, which introduced binding trade restrictions on a range of goods used for capital punishment, torture or other ill-treatment. The report includes suggestions of non-legislative measures to help Member States implement the regulation more effectively, including responding to technological developments when considering the scope of goods, and the creation of a group of experts to strengthen implementation and compliance.282 2.2. Participating States’ engagement in national or international activities relevant to the issue of the death penalty Several OSCE participating States made statements in the OSCE Permanent Council on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty. 279 Statement by Michelle Bachelet, Towards Torture-Free Trade: Opportunities and Challenges, 10 December 2020. 280 Alliance for Torture-Free Trade. 281 Amnesty International and Omega, Ending the Torture Trade: The Path to Global Controls on the ‘Tools of Torture”, 11 December 2020. 282 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the review of Regulation (EU) 2019/125 of 16 January 2019 concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, COM(2020) 343, 30 July 2020, p. 18–19. 63