Omega Research Foundation

08/10/2026

🇫🇷 We are deeply concerned by reports of excessive use of force & accounts of severe and life-changing injuries caused by police using weapons during youth in .

👉 Any use of force must be lawful, strictly necessary, and proportionate.

‼️ While Omega welcomes the suspension of the use of stun grenades, it is insufficient.
❌ *ALL* exploding weapons should be prohibited for use during the policing of protests.

🛑 & other ill-treatment are absolutely prohibited even if a protest is not peaceful. Children are entitled to additional protections under international human rights laws & standards.

🔗 Read the UNICEF report ‘Free and safe to protest: Policing assemblies involving children’ to learn more: https://www.unicef.org/reports/free-and-safe-protest

🔗 Here you can learn more about some of our concerns around the use of explosive weapons at protests: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/reports/theron-v-france-third-party-intervention/

🪧 France must protect the right of all people – including children – to participate in protests safely and free from torture and other ill-treatment.

06/10/2026

📣 Explosive weapons should never be used in policing of protests.

🪧 Read the Consortium’s Guide to Addressing the Misuse of Police Weapons in Protests: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/resources/challenging-repression-a-guide-to-addressing-the-misuse-of-police-weapons-in-protests/

🔗 BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9zrdmxp4vy6o

🔗 The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/06/french-student-protests-barricades-paris-police

06/10/2026

🇬🇧⬇
You can't address what you can't see.
How can we make the invisible visible?
How can research strengthen the work of torture monitoring mechanisms?

For an upcoming human rights training on police and security weapons in Argentina, Elsa Andress, one of our volunteers, researched how monitoring bodies across the country document torture and other ill-treatment, the challenges they face and the approaches they have developed.

Research provides the evidence, but training creates the space to turn that evidence into practical knowledge.

🔗 Read Elsa’s full blog to find out more: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/from-research-to-training-how-research-supports-omegas-training-for-torture-monitoring-mechanisms-in-argentina/

🇪🇸⬇
No podemos abordar lo que no podemos ver.
¿Cómo podemos hacer visible lo invisible?
¿Cómo puede la investigación fortalecer el trabajo de los mecanismos de monitoreo de la tortura?

De cara a una próxima capacitación en derechos humanos sobre armas policiales y de seguridad en Argentina, Elsa Andress, una de nuestras voluntarias, investigó cómo los mecanismos de monitoreo de todo el país documentan tortura y otros malos tratos, los retos a los que se enfrentan y los enfoques que han desarrollado.

La investigación aporta las pruebas, pero la capacitación crea el espacio para transformar esas pruebas en conocimiento práctico.

🔗 Lea el artículo completo de Elsa en nuestro blog para saber más: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/from-research-to-training-how-research-supports-omegas-training-for-torture-monitoring-mechanisms-in-argentina/

Elsa Andress, one of Omega's volunteers, shares her thoughts on an upcoming human rights training in Argentina.

28/09/2026

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️LGBTIQA+ people deprived of their liberty face heightened risks of violence, discrimination, and torture and other ill-treatment.
‼️ These risks are avoidable.

📑 An important new report from our partners Association for the Prevention of Torture brings together practices that show how authorities and oversight bodies can strengthen protection, uphold dignity, and prevent torture and other ill-treatment.
🔗

25/09/2026

📢 Peaceful protests worldwide are increasingly met with excessive force and the misuse of police weapons that silence dissent and cause serious harm.

🪧 To support those documenting and challenging these abuses, our ‘Guidance Note on Addressing the Misuse of Police Weapons in Protests’ is available in English, French, Spanish, & Arabic.

📣 Designed for civil society organisations, National Human Rights Institutions, National Preventive Mechanisms, healthcare professionals, & protest monitors, the guide is a practical tool to help protect the right to peaceful assembly.

🌍 Access the guide & help strengthen monitoring and accountability efforts worldwide: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/reports/challenging-repression-a-guide-to-addressing-the-misuse-of-police-weapons-in-protests/

18/09/2026

❓ Same logo, same abuse and impunity?
👉 Bangladesh’s infamous Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was ‘disbanded’ earlier this month, and has been replaced by the new Special Response Battalion (SRB).
🔗 There needs to be widespread change, not just a new name or logo: https://netra.news/2026/bangladesh-needs-more-than-a-new-name-for-rab/

Netra News

17/09/2026

❓ Why do we need to end the trade in tools of torture?
📣 Read & see what steps civil society is calling on states to take:https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com26/briefingbook/FCBB-2026-tft.pdf

📑 The 2026 Reaching Critical Will Briefing Book is out now & the Torture-Free Trade Network is included alongside International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Stop Killer Robots, International Network on Explosive Weapons, Human Rights Watch, & many more:
🔗: https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/publications-and-research/publications/18220-first-committee-briefing-book-2026


Amnesty International Center for Victims of Torture Physicians for Human Rights International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims Association for the Prevention of Torture Redress OMCT FIACAT

15/09/2026

Is there need for a “more powerful" Taser?

❓: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/taser-10-new-10-shot-taser-weapon-authorised-by-home-office-for-use-by-uk-police/

🕯️Read the concerns of Amnesty International UK on the Police Service of Northern Ireland plan to increase the number of officers using the ‘Taser 10’ weapon: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/northern-ireland-more-powerful-taser-roll-out-by-psni-raises-fundamental-safety-concerns/

10/09/2026

“Every statistic is a real child who may have had a traumatic experience of being struck, or strip searched, or even tasered.” - Nicola Killean, Scotland's Children and Young People's Commissioner

All use of a Taser should be referred to the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner.
🔗: https://omegaresearchfoundation.org/what-we-do/electric-shock/projectile-electric-shock-weapons/

BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgk5r1dvp04o

08/09/2026

Like Representatives Ramirez, Stansbury, Goldman, Holmes Norton, Tlaib, Lynch, & tens of others, we don’t think ICE should be buying torture equipment.

‼️ Electric shock gloves are torture equipment.
❌ They should never be used by law enforcement.

Read their joint letter to Secretary Mullin:https://ramirez.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/ramirez.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/ramirez-letter-to-mullin-on-electric-shock-gloves-1.pdf