THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’: TIMELINE The following timeline summarises the milestones along the path for global controls on the trade in equipment that can be used for torture, other ill-treatment and the death penalty. 2001 At the UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture calls upon “all Governments to take appropriate effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent and prohibit the production, trade, export and use of equipment which is specifically designed to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”66 Repeated calls on states to introduce such measures are made as part of the biennial UN General Assembly resolution on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, most recently in 2019.67 2005 The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture recommends that – in addition to prohibiting manufacture, transfer and use of equipment which “has no or virtually no, practical use” other than for torture or ill-treatment – states should also introduce “strict controls on the export of other security and law enforcement equipment to help ensure that it is not used to inflict torture or ill-treatment” and should “consider the development of an international regulatory mechanism”.69 2002 2006 The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopts Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment in Africa (The Robben Island Guidelines), incorporating a comprehensive recommendation that states “prohibit and prevent the use, production and trade of equipment or substances designed to inflict torture or ill-treatment and the abuse of any other equipment or substance to these ends ”.68 The EU Anti Torture Regulation comes into force, instituting the first legally binding regional control regime.70 Directly applicable in all member states, it prohibits the trade (import/export/transit) into, from or through, the EU of equipment and products from/to third countries (that is, non-EU states) that have “no other practical use other than for the purposes of capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. It also prohibits the provision of technical assistance, brokering of deals between third countries or promotion of such goods; and requires EU states to license the export and transit to third countries of law enforcement equipment that could be misused for torture and ill-treatment. EU states must refuse export authorization when there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the goods might be used for torture or other ill-treatment. 66 UN Commission on Human Rights, Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 77th meeting, Resolution 2001/62, 25 April 2001, Article 8. 67 UN, General Assembly, Resolution on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, UN Doc. A/RES/74/143, para. 20. 68 African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Resolution on Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture in Africa, ACHPR/ Res. 61(XXXII) 02 (2002),23 October 2002, Appendix 1 [Robben Island Guidelines] para. 14. 69 UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2005/62, 15 December 2004, Article 37. 70 EC Regulation 1236/2005 of 27th June 2005 concerning trade in goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, published in Official Journal of the European Union, L200/1, 30th July 2005. The EU Anti-Torture Regulation has subsequently been revised and strengthened over time; the latest consolidated version, Regulation (EU) 2019/125, was published in January 2019 and came into force on 20 February 2019. 28 ENDING THE TORTURE TRADE THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation 2017 2020 The EU, Argentina and Mongolia launch the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade at the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York. The Alliance currently comprises over 60 states from all regions of the world. All members have signed its Political Declaration, acknowledging that “the availability of goods used for capital punishment, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment enables such practices”, and committing themselves to “act together to further prevent, restrict and end trade” of such goods.71 In July the UN Secretary General’s report analysing states views is published. It notes that most responding states supported the proposal to establish common international standards and that a majority were in favour of a legally binding instrument.75 As of November 2020, the Group of Governmental Experts is being established and will shortly commence its work to explore options for establishing common international standards in this area, presenting its findings to the UN General Assembly in the summer of 2021. 2019 The UN General Assembly adopts Resolution A/73/L.94, Towards torture-free trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards. The resolution calls on the UN Secretary General to gather member states’ views on the feasibility and scope of options to establish common international standards and to establish a Group of Governmental Experts to examine a range of options for establishing common international standards in this area.73 2018 2020 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) calls on member states to strengthen “international regulations against trade in goods used for torture and the death penalty”. After the adoption of a feasibility study proposing the development of CoE standards,72 a recommendation, broadly in line with the EU framework, is developed in 2020 for adoption by the Committee of Ministers in February 2021. The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights’, Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa (CPTA) adopts as its theme “the prohibition of the use, production, and trade of tools of torture”.74 A thematic report on the subject is being prepared by the CPTA and will be presented at a forthcoming Session of the Commission. 71 Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, “Political Declaration”, 18 September 2017, http://www.torturefreetrade.org 72 Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers, “Towards a recommendation to ban the trade in goods used for torture and the death penalty”, 12 February 2020. 73 UN General Assembly, Resolution Towards torture-free trade: examining the feasibility, scope and parameters for possible common international standards, 21 June 2019, Seventy-third session, UN Doc. A/73/L.94. The Resolution was adopted with 81 states voting in favour, 20 against and 44 abstaining. 74 Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa, Statement Announcing the CPTA Annual Theme for 2020, https://www.achpr.org/pressrelease/ detail?id=509 75 UN Report of the Secretary General, Towards torture-free trade, para 36. ENDING THE TORTURE TRADE THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation 29