EU seeks to limit trade of torture instruments

EU seeks to limit trade of torture instruments: The European Union is spearheading an effort to limit the global trade of torture instruments and tools used to carry out executions. Almost 60 countries have committed to join the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, which formally launched at the United Nations on Monday.

Countries with some of the highest numbers of executions, including China and the US, are not participating.

But supporters of the initiative say the alliance is a start.

Goods such as shock belts, spiked batons and gas chambers are among the products targeted by the movement, which is also backed by Argentina and Mongolia.

Some of the items can be found for purchase online, which EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom called “unacceptable”.

“I’m not naive. I know you can torture a person with a pencil if you want to, but this is a way to at least limit the access of these products,” Ms Malmstrom told the BBC.

Members of the alliance plan to collaborate on laws curbing trade in these goods and to share information about trade routes. Ms Malmstrom said she also hopes it will isolate non-participants politically.

The UK, Canada, Brazil and Mexico are among the 57 countries that have committed to the alliance so far, her office said.

The initiative builds on earlier EU restrictions on the trade in torture equipment and the export of drugs that can be used to carry out lethal injections.

Those new rules have led to shortages of execution drugs in the US and contributed to a decline in the number of executions there.

The US put 20 people to death last year, the lowest number since 1991, according to Amnesty International.

“We have very tough legislation in the European Union … but it’s not enough,” Ms Malmstrom told the BBC. “We need to go global.”

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