Europe: Grasping the nettle: Ending Europe’s trade in execution and torture technology

In 2014 Commission proposals for strengthening the Regulation concerning trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment failed to address a number of crucial weaknesses. If these issues are not tackled directly now by EU Member States and the European Parliament, the opportunity to comprehensively strengthen the control regime and close loopholes exploited by unscrupulous traders will be missed. This report highlights existing failings of the control regime through contemporary case studies and provides realistic and workable policy solutions to these often complex technical issues.

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