4.2 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF COMPANIES States have clear obligations to combat and prevent torture and other ill-treatment, including through national and regional legal prohibitions and controls on the trade in law enforcement equipment and other related goods that could be readily misused for such purposes. States must also protect against human rights abuse within their territory by third parties, including business enterprises.52 For instance, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation on Business and Human Rights states that “member States should ensure that business enterprises domiciled within their jurisdiction do not trade in goods which have no practical use other than for the purpose of capital punishment, torture or [other ill-treatment].53 This, however, does not absolve companies of their responsibility to respect all human rights, including freedom from torture and other ill-treatment, wherever they operate. This is expressly recognized in global standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles), unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.54 Of particular importance in this regard are responsibilities upon businesses to: Halt the trade in inherently abusive equipment: All business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights. According to UN Guiding Principle 11 “[t]his means that they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.” Companies that manufacture, promote or trade in inherently abusive law-enforcement equipment that could only be used for torture, other ill-treatment or the death penalty would not be able to fulfil Principle 11 and should cease such activities immediately. Undertake effective human rights diligence: UN Guiding Principle 15 states that “In order to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, business enterprises should have in place… A human rights due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their impacts on human rights.” According to the UN Guiding Principles, this responsibility applies “to all business enterprises, both transnational and others, regardless of their size, sector, location, ownership and structure”.55 Companies must consequently address the risks involved not just in their company operations and across their supply chain, but through their entire value chain, including risks associated with how their products are being and are likely to be used once they are deployed by law enforcement officials. This is especially the case if companies are supplying law enforcement equipment to countries experiencing political upheaval or which have poor human rights records, such as a long history of torture or other ill-treatment in custodial or non-custodial settings. The importance of such responsible business practices were underlined in the July 2020 UN Secretary General’s Report, Towards torturefree trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards, which called on states to ensure that “companies involved in trading goods that could be used for capital punishment, torture or other forms of ill-treatment … carry out human rights due diligence.” 56 52 UN, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework, UN Doc. HR/PUB/11/04, p. 3 53 Council of Europe, Business and Human Rights Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 of the Committee of Ministers to member States, adopted on 2 March 2016, rm.coe.int/human-rights-and-business-recommendation-cm-rec-2016-3-of-the-committe/16806f2032 54 UN, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework, UN Doc. HR/PUB/11/04 www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/ guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, 31 May 2018, mneguidelines.oecd.org/OECD-Due-Diligence-Guidance-forResponsible-Business-Conduct.pdf 55 UN Guiding Principles, p. 1 56 UN, Report of the Secretary General, Towards torture-free trade. 24 ENDING THE TORTURE TRADE THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation