EU countries sell tools of torture, says report
17.03.10 @ 10:11
BRUSSELS - Several EU countries buy and sell equipment used in torture such as spike batons, metal thumb cuffs and electric-shock stun sleeves delivering 50,000-volt shocks to detainees, despite a 2006 EU law against the trade, according to a report from human rights watchdogs Amnesty international and the Omega Research Foundation.
The report reveals how EU countries including Spain, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic have authorised exports of policing weapons and other possible torture tools to at least nine countries where use of such equipment in torture has been documented.
"The introduction of European controls on the trade in ‘tools of torture' ... was a landmark piece of legislation. But three years after these controls came into force, several European states have failed to properly implement or enforce the law," said Nicolas Beger, director of Amnesty International's EU office.
According to the document, law enforcement equipment suppliers in Italy and Spain have promoted the sale of illegal electroshock cuffs or sleeves thanks to loopholes in the EU law that permit their trade, even though similar electric stun belts are prohibited for import and export across the EU on the grounds that their use inherently constitutes torture or ill treatment.
Hungary in 2005 even declared its intention to introduce such electric stun belts into its own prisons and police stations, despite the import and export ban.
According to the report, companies can use various ways to by-pass strict EU regulation around the trade. One way is to sell components of the equiment in separate shipments.
"Order our stun gun kit and you will receive it no matter which country you are in ... Stun gun kits are shipped internationally to avoid strict export regulations. Our stun gun kit is sent in two shipments. The first shipment includes the electric parts fully assembled. The second shipment is the plastic molded case with four screws. The instructions will NOT be shipped," the report quotes a company sales website as writing.
The report also lists clever ways to avoid customs staff suspicion at borders, for instance by imaginative naming of the devices transported.
Content description on a container that arrives to an EU customs office may read "Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter," instead of the more accurate description of "electric-shock stun batons".
According to the document, only seven states have fulfilled their obligations to publicly report their exports of such products, which will be formally discussed at a meeting of the European Parliament's sub-committee on human rights on Thursday (18 March).
