EXTERNAL TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT CONTRIBUTIONS 41 The overarching presumption must be one of no use of force, unless strictly necessary, which applies equally to the personal use of force, special means as an individual or group tactic, use of firearms or combination thereof . . . any use of force without a legal basis is unlawful.100 Multilateral bodies wishing to conduct police and prison reform in the area of use of force should, therefore, conduct a thorough evaluation of the equipment available to law-enforcement and corrections personnel in order to ensure that any development of standards does not include the inadvertent approval of certain devices or techniques whose characteristics may be at odds with the stated reform ambitions or international best practice. Law-enforcement training and equipment are known to have been provided to individual states by countries and multilateral bodies in support of anti-narcotic and counterterrorism programmes or as part of a police-reform package. For example, French and German police have conducted training in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, respectively. Turkey actively supports police training on a range of (unspecified) topics in a number of countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.101 A May 2012 report details China’s donation of ‘material and technical facilities’ to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs, which included stun guns and other items totalling approximately 14 million Som (US $225 000). The use of stun guns by Kyrgyz law-enforcement officials in crowd-control situations in Balykychy in 2009 has been documented: ‘police using riot gear and stun guns violently dispersed a peaceful protest over election results’.102 Given this information, and the questionable suitability of direct-contact devices for lawenforcement (and particularly crowd-control operations), this gift of stun guns is of concern. In 2011 media reports suggested that the Turkmen Interior Ministry and China’s Public Security Ministry had signed a cooperation agreement that would see Turkmen police officers trained in China 103 and that a deal had also been signed between Tajikistan and China for the provision of Chinese police equipment to Tajik law-enforcement authorities.104 In 2014 it was reported that Uzbekistan’s Chief of Security had met with the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Politics and Law Commission, the outcome of which 100 ‘New crowd control rules approved for Armenian Police’, ArmeniaLiberty.org, 17 Feb. 2012, <http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/210615/316415_en.html>; and Armenian Police, Guidelines for the Activities of Officers of the Police Units Involved in Public Order Management and for the Use of Physical Force, Special Means and Firearms by these Officers During Mass Disorders, <http://polis.osce.org/library/f/3986/3485/GOV-ARM-RPT-3986-EN-3485>. 101 ‘Turkish police organise international training programs’, Today’s Zaman, 4 May 2011, <http:// www.todayszaman.com/national_turkish-police-organize-international-training-programs_242856. html>. 102 Lewis (note 98), p. 36. 103 Fitzpatrick, C., ‘Turkmenistan: Berdymukhamedov picks up new gas order, police training grant in China, Eurasianet, 30 Nov. 2011, <http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64607>. 104 Hamroboyeva, N ‘China provides police equipment to Tajikistan’, ASIA-Plus, 25 Apr 2014, <http://news.tj/en/news/china-provides-police-equipment-tajikistan>.