This afternoon at the UN Headquarters, Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström, and the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, Tsend Munkh-Orgil, launched the "Global Alliance to end trade in tools of torture, capital punishment and any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

The formal launch of this initiative at the UN building included testimonies of torture survivors and a panel discussion between the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty; the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, and Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake.

The event was also attended by representatives of Brazil, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Malta, Costa Rica, Haiti, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Ukraine, Albania, Norway, Paraguay, Serbia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Panama, the Netherlands, France and Mexico, among others.

By joining this new Alliance for Torture-Free Trade, governments will undertake to establish national bans on exports of tools for torture or death penalty, increasing the powers of customs authorities to implement the bans.

 

Press release No. 400/17
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