Pain Merchants: Security Equipment and Its Use in Torture and Other Ill- Treatment
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 3 2. MECHANICAL RESTRAINTS ................................................................................ 8 2.1 Shackles, thumbcuffs, legcuffs ...................................................................... 10 2.2 Shackle boards and restraint beds .................................................................. 17 2.3 Restraint chairs ............................................................................................... 19 2.4 Handcuffs and belts ........................................................................................ 20 3. KINETIC IMPACT DEVICES ................................................................................ 25 3.1 Sticks, batons, truncheons .............................................................................. 25 3.2 Launched kinetic impact devices ................................................................... 30 4. ELECTRO-SHOCK DEVICES ............................................................................... 38 4.1 Electro-shock stun belts ................................................................................. 44 4.2 Electro-shock stun guns ................................................................................. 46 4.3 Taser guns ...................................................................................................... 50 5. DISABLING CHEMICALS .................................................................................... 59 5.1 Tear gas .......................................................................................................... 59 5.2 Pepper sprays ................................................................................................ 68 5.3 Incapacitating agents ...................................................................................... 73 6. FUTURE TECHNOLOGICAL THREATS ............................................................ 76 7. AN AGENDA FOR ACTION ................................................................................. 78 7.1 Restraint devices and techniques ................................................................... 80 7.2 Kinetic impact weapons ................................................................................. 81 7.3 Electro-shock weapons .................................................................................. 81 7.4 Disabling Chemicals ...................................................................................... 82 Appendix 1: Framework of International Standards .................................................... 83 Appendix 2: The EC Trade Regulation Proposal ........................................................ 85 Appendix 3. Selected Examples of United States Export Licenses Approved for Shock Batons, Stun Guns, Electric Cattle Prods and Related Devices in 2002 ...................... 87 Selected Examples of United States Export Licenses Approved for Shock Batons, Stun Guns, Electric Cattle Prods and Related Devices in 2002 ................................... 88 Appendix 4: Countries where Electric Shock Torture / Ill-treatment has been reported by Amnesty International since 1990 .......................................................................... 90 AI Index: ACT 40/008/2003 Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for human rights. AI works towards the observance of all human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. It seeks to promote the observance of the full range of human rights, which it considers to be indivisible and interdependent, through campaigning and public awareness activities, as well as through human rights education and pushing for ratification and implementation of human rights treaties. AI's work is based on careful research and on the standards agreed by the international community. AI is a voluntary, democratic, self-governing movement with more than a million members and supporters in more than 140 countries and territories. It is funded largely by its worldwide membership and by donations from the public. No funds are sought or accepted from governments for AI's work in documenting and campaigning against human rights violations. AI is independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights. AI takes action against some of the gravest violations by governments of people's civil and political rights. The focus of its campaigning against human rights violations is to: * free all prisoners of conscience. According to AI’s Statute, these are people detained for their political religious or other conscientiously held beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth or other status – who have not used or advocated violence * ensure fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners; * abolish the death penalty, torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners; * end political killings and ''disappearances''. AI calls on armed political groups to respect human rights and to halt abuses such as the detention of prisoners of conscience, hostage-taking, torture and unlawful killings. AI also seeks to support the protection of human rights by other activities, including its work with the United Nations (UN) and regional intergovernmental organizations, and its work for refugees, on international military, security and police relations, and on economic and cultural relations. Cover photo: A protestor shows her injuries after she was hit by a police weapon during an anti-war protest in Oakland, California on 7 April 2003. © AP Amnesty International AI Index: ACT 40/008/2003 3 The Pain Merchants: Security equipment and its use in torture and other ill- treatment THE PAIN MERCHANTS Security equipment and its use in torture and other ill-treatment 1. INTRODUCTION "It's possible to use anything for torture", says a US manufacturer of electro- shock riot shields, "but it's a little easier to use our devices." 1 Amnesty International has campaigned for many years to end the trade in torture equipment. In Arming the Torturers: Electro-Shock Torture and the Spread of Stun Technology2 and Stopping the torture trade3, Amnesty International detailed the largely unregulated business of manufacturing and trading electro-shock weaponry and other devices which are ostensibly designed for security, but which in reality lend themselves to serious abuses of human rights. The prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment extends to all circumstances, even during war.4 The right to freedom from torture is so absolute that it can never be restricted. Torture is always, in every situation, unacceptable. Yet torture continues in many countries despite the fact that it is absolutely prohibited under international law. During 2002 Amnesty International reported torture or ill-treatment by security forces, police or other 1 John McDermit, president of Nova Products, Inc; quoted in interview with Anne-Marie Cusac, The Progressive, September 1997 (http://www.progressive.org/cusac9709.htm) 2 March 1997 (AI Index: ACT 40/01/1997) 3 February 2001 (AI Index: ACT 400022001) 4 Torture violates binding customary international law – see for example the case of Filartiga v Pena-Irala, 1980. In this case, the US Federal Court of Appeals said that "deliberate torture perpetrated under color of official authority violates universally accepted norms of international law of human rights, regardless of the nationality of the parties. " [citation 577 F Supp. 860 (EDNY 1984); summarized in 78 American Journal of International Law 677 (1984).] Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are also prohibited by treaties - see Articles 4 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984, and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, 1949 Amnesty International AI Index: ACT 40/008/2003 4 The Pain Merchants: security equipment and its use in torture and other ill- treatment state authorities in 106 countries. 5 A study of Amnesty documentation for the years 1997-2000 showed that torture was reported in more than 150 countries. In more than 70 of them, the reports were widespread or persistent. In more than 80 countries, people reportedly died as a result. Most of the torturers documented by Amnesty International were police officers.6 In the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the USA, some US commentators have even argued that law enforcement agents should be allowed to torture suspects: "torture-lite" is the new entry in the lexicon of abuse. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) which 134 states have ratified, forbids torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Likewise, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), which 151 states have ratified, requires that: ''No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment''. The prohibition in Article