The HRIC and the Omega Research Foundation (Omega) have an established record of collaboration on a number of research activities.

The Omega Research Foundation was established in 1990 to provide rigorous, objective, evidence-based research on the manufacture, trade, and use of, military, security and police (MSP) equipment.  Such technologies range from small arms and light weapons to large weapon systems, policing technologies and prison equipment to equipment used for torture, amongst others. Through its research Omega aims to monitor the international MSP trade in the pursuit of transparency and accountability; provide campaigning organisations with timely and accurate case study information to lobby for tougher controls on international MSP transfers; work with NGOs and media agencies to expose companies and governments that flout regulations on transfers of arms and security equipment; and provide torture survivor support groups with the information that allows them to seek legal redress from the companies producing such equipment.

Over the years the HRIC and Omega have collaborated on a number of projects and activities. For example, in 2012, Omega provided expert input into the UK National Preventive Mechanism Workshop on the Use of Restraints, organised by HRIC.   The HRIC and Omega have also cooperated on a number of activities in Uganda. For example, in November 2013 the HRIC, Omega, and the Uganda Human Rights Commission worked together on a stakeholder consultation as part of the  , and a related training to sensitise relevant stakeholders on the forms of military, security and policing equipment which may constitute torture; the issues associated with the use of these weapons; and to provide practical tools and techniques to record, identify and monitor them.

The HRIC has also provided expert advice on recommendations of ‘national preventive mechanisms’ for a training workshop in Senegal organised by Omega, jointly with Amnesty International Senegal, in August 2014, which focused on recording and identifying military, security and police (MSP) equipment often used for torture and other ill-treatment, as part of a larger EC grant held by Omega.

In a related activity, the HRIC, Omega, and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, organised a meeting in Switzerland in March 2015 on recording equipment used in torture and other ill-treatment. The meeting was part-funded by the EC. The meeting brought together a small number of international and national detention monitoring and torture prevention bodies in order to raise awareness of this equipment, of the need for controls on its manufacture and trade, and to discuss and share the good practice that already exists in the documentation of this equipment amongst specialist torture prevention bodies.

For more information about the Omega Research Foundation see website: http://www.omegaresearchfoundation.org/