Social demonstrations called by unions across Colombia on November 21, 2019 were swiftly met with tear gas and stun grenades by law enforcement. Two days later, 18-year-old Dilan Cruz was dead, killed by a bean bag fired from a 12-guage shotgun by a member of the Bogota police. At the time, the so called “less lethal weapon” wielded was authorized for police use under Colombian law.
Law enforcement personnel around the world routinely use weapons such as these against protesters, human rights defenders, and detainees, inflicting excessive and severe physical and psychological harm. This equipment is too often used or abused by police in ways that do not comply with international and regional standards of police use of force and can even violate the universal prohibition against torture, as outlined by the Convention Against Torture. Recognizing the health harms caused by equipment capable of inflicting torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, PHR has joined organizations around the globe to call for a comprehensive treaty to end the trade of these weapons.
The Dangers of “Less than Lethal” Weapons
“Less lethal” or crowd-control weapons, like tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons, are capable of inflicting severe injuries ranging from pain and skin irritation to brain damage, internal bleeding, and even death. Law enforcement personnel frequently use this equipment improperly and indiscriminately without sufficient consideration for vulnerable groups, such as children and elderly individuals, or the potential for harm.
From its work monitoring human rights violations in protest settings, PHR and our partners have documented overwhelming evidence of the immediate and long-term harm caused by these weapons. The PHR and the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) report “Lethal in Disguise” documents the harmful health consequences of less lethal weapons and the impact of their use on the meaningful exercise of the freedom of assembly. Following the 2017 Kenyan Presidential election, for instance, police conducted a violent house-to-house campaign targeting protestors with live ammunition, batons, tear gas, and other crowd control weapons, leading to 57 fatalities including minors. From May 26 to July 27, 2020, PHR documented 115 people across the United States who were shot in the head or neck with kinetic impact projectiles during the protests following the death of George Floyd.
Why We Need a Torture-free Trade Treaty
The campaign for the creation of a mechanism to regulate the trade of law enforcement equipment that is inherently abusive or could be misused for ill-treatment or torture has grown into a global movement, championed by prominent human rights experts and leaders at the United Nations.
As outlined in the 2023 thematic study by the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr. Alice Edwards, certain items used by law enforcement are inherently torturous (Category A Items, Annex I of the study) and should be prohibited. These include, for instance, thumb cuffs, multiple kinetic impact projectiles, gang chains, and direct contact electric shock weapons. Other items listed in the report, though holding a legitimate use such as leg cuffs, batons, water cannons, and chemical irritant projectiles, can be misused for torture (Category B Items, Annex II of the study) and therefore require an additional level of oversight to prevent serious abuses.
Other UN experts, including the former Special Rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions Morris Tidball-Binz, stressed the importance of the treaty given the “worrying and considerable spike in allegations of excessive and unnecessary use of force by law enforcement in the context of assemblies… in prison and custodial settings, [and] medical facilities.” Along with Dr. Edwards, these experts called on states to advance an internationally binding instrument and amend national laws to end the import, export, production, and use of torturous equipment.
A comprehensive “Torture-Free Trade Treaty” would strengthen the existing anti-torture framework by giving the international community the tools to monitor and enforce state obligations to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. The absence of a binding framework creates an environment that allows states to claim to be committed to ending torture while simultaneously sustaining it in practice. Today, more than 60 member states have pledged to “act together to further prevent, restrict and end trade” in goods used for torture and other ill-treatment.
To combat the ongoing trade and use of tortuous weapons, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Torture Free Trade Treaty Network calls on the international community to:
- Prohibit the manufacturing and trading of equipment whose only practical use is torture or other ill-treatment;
- Regulate the trade of equipment that is frequently abused for the purpose of torture or other ill-treatment;
- Obligate states to enact national laws that enforce prohibitions and ensure transparency for the use of such weapons; and
- Create an independent and international torture-free trade oversight mechanism.
According to Dr. Edwards,
“It is time to improve State and corporate accountability for torture… Companies can currently develop and sell items that have no legitimate purpose other than to inflict excessive pain… They are quite literally profiting from human suffering.”
Crucial to this mission, an international oversight mechanism would be capable of updating lists of prohibited weapons, monitoring their transfer, and reporting on state compliance. The mechanism would also be empowered to monitor states parties’ compliance with the treaty through regular reports submitted by member states. Combined with guidelines for the documentation of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and torture such as the Istanbul Protocol, this mechanism would empower civil society organizations to review compliance by member states and help ensure accountability for allegations of torture by sharing evidence with the treaty body.
PHR is a member of the core committee of the Torture-Free Trade Network formed to campaign for tighter restrictions on the production and trade of law enforcement equipment, and a signatory of the Shoreditch Declaration that established the network. We call on states to promote a resolution for a Torture-Free Trade Treaty at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly and encourage other civil society organizations to join the Shoreditch Declaration to show their support.