5.0 THE PATH TO GLOBAL 5.CONTROLS THE PATH ON TO GLOBAL CONTROLS THE TOOLS OF ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ TORTURE 5.1 WORK IN PROGRESS While law enforcement equipment continues to be traded without adequate regulation in many parts of the world and inherently abusive equipment is still being manufactured and exported, legal and administrative restrictions have been steadily introduced over the past two decades. Since the UN Commission on Human Rights first highlighted member states’ obligations to prohibit the production, trade, export and use of equipment which is specifically designed to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in 2001, there has been steady progress towards global regulations which capture not just inherently abusive equipment, but also wide a range of controlled law enforcement equipment. In Europe, the EU adopted legally binding prohibitions on the trade of inherently abusive goods and restrictions on the export of law enforcement equipment in 2005 (which came into force in 2006),64 and the Council of Europe is set to introduce similar guidance for its member states in 2021. In Africa, the African Union adopted guidelines in 2002,65 and is now developing measures to encourage and facilitate effective national implementation. But outside of these regions, with the notable exception of the USA which has introduced national trade control legislation covering law enforcement equipment, individual states have at best a patchwork of export regulations covering a limited range of relevant goods, but which do not adequately address this issue. ...law enforcement equipment continues to be traded without adequate regulation in many parts of the world, and inherently abusive equipment is still being manufactured and exported... 64 EC Regulation 1236/2005 of 27 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, 30 July 2005. 65 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, Appendix 1 [Robben Island Guidelines]. ENDING THE TORTURE TRADE THE PATH TO GLOBAL CONTROLS ON THE ‘TOOLS OF TORTURE’ Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation 27