Omega Research Foundation
from a stun grenade in a protest in May 2014, when reporting cases of inappropriate use of
force by law enforcement officials in 2014.89
Stun grenades were originally designed as a tactical munition for use by specialist officers during room
clearance or hostage situations. Their effects are indiscriminate in nature, and they are explosive
munitions not suitable for use in the context of a public gathering. The intense stimulation of the
auditory and visual senses, often in conjunction with respiratory difficulties provoked by their use
alongside chemical irritants, disorientate the target, often leading to panic, with risk of serious injury
in crowd situations. When they explode stun grenades can release shrapnel and fragments with
sufficient energy to cause death or serious injury. The concussive blast of the detonation can cause
burns, start fires particularly when used in enclosed spaces, cause hearing damage, eye injuries and
psychiatric trauma.90
Recommendations
II.II
The use of stun grenades should be prohibited as a method of crowd dispersal.
If there is a delay before stun grenades are prohibited for crowd dispersal purposes, the direct
firing or throwing of stun grenades against a person should be prohibited immediately and
authorities must ensure medical personnel are on hand to provide assistance to those
affected by stun grenades.
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN DETENTION
Being condemned to a prison sentence or subjected to pre-trial detention in Latin America has been
described by the Director of the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime
and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD) as a de facto random death sentence.91 Although there are
many factors which contribute to this, one of the main ones is the illegitimate use of force by prison
staff.
Amerigo Incalcaterra, regional representative for South America of the United Nations Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights, has said there are cases of mistreatment and torture in places
of detention in every country in Latin America and the Caribbean.92 Some of the common features
which result in human rights violations include the use of torture in criminal investigations,
widespread impunity and corruption, the use of force to discipline those deprived of their liberty and
excessive use of preventive detention.93
For the purposes of this report, places of detention include all public or private institutions where a
person can be detained, imprisoned, institutionalised or placed in custody, and from which that
person cannot leave at will, by order or under the de facto control of a judicial, administrative or any
89
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, UN Doc. A/ HRC/28/3/Add.3, para. 73.
90
Physicians for Human Rights and INCLO, Lethal in Disguise: The health consequences of crowd-control
weapons, 2016, pp. 66-68.
91
Elías Carranza, ‘Situación penitenciaria en América Latina y el Caribe ¿Qué hacer?,’ published in Anuario de
Derechos Humanos 2012, Universidad de Chile,
<http://www.anuariocdh.uchile.cl/index.php/ADH/article/view/20551> [accessed 31 May 2016], p. 46.
92
Marianela Jarroud, ‘No Hope in Sight for Latin America’s Prison Crisis,’ IPS, 2 February 2015,
<http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/02/no-hope-in-sight-for-latin-americas-prison-crisis/> [accessed 31 May
2016].
93
ACAT, A World of Torture, 2013, p. 25.
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