1. Introduction This report is an initial analysis of the developments in the market for, and deployment of, law-enforcement equipment in the Eurasian region, with a particular focus on states in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Although significant analysis has been conducted on issues relating to the manufacture, transfer and use of small arms and light weapons—specifically their use in exacerbating conflict, or in the commission of state-sponsored human-rights violations in the Caucasus and Central Asia—the impact of law-enforcement technologies on security and human-rights issues has received less scrutiny.1 The range of equipment available to law-enforcement and correctional services continues to grow rapidly. From batons, handcuffs and electric-shockproducing weapons to a variety of chemical irritants and acoustic devices, the number of sources of manufacture of such devices continues to expand at pace. There is a recognized need for the development of a range of force options for officials. Consequently, significant resources are being allocated to the research and design of law-enforcement equipment by individual states, official bodies associated with law-enforcement agencies, and private companies.2 While certain ‘domestic’ markets such as China or the United States are big enough to sustain significant numbers of companies and research and development programmes, the Caucasus and Central Asia have not traditionally been significant centres of manufacturing for lawenforcement technologies.3 A report by Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation found that, in China, there are 134 different companies trading and manufacturing mechanical restraints, electric-shock stun weapons, striking weapons and crowd-control weapons.4 Furthermore, information held by the Omega Research Foundation suggests that at least 500 companies in the USA have developed, manufactured or traded in less-lethal weapons and restraint devices over the past 10 years. It is natural for companies to want to take advantage of new opportunities to expand their client base outside of their traditional markets. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus—two regions served by the same producers and therefore treated as one market—an increasingly wide range of devices have been seen to be deployed, and individual states are increasingly looking to develop their own industrial production centres or move away from traditional sources of supply. 1
See e.g. Holtom, P., ‘Arms transfers to Europe and Central Asia’, SIPRI Background Paper, Feb. 2010.

2 See UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/UseOfForceAndFirearms.aspx>. 3 Reliable statistics on the number and range of companies manufacturing law-enforcement technologies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus region are currently unavailable. 4 Amnesty International and Omega Research Foundation, China’s Trade in the Tools of Torture and Repression (2014), <http://www.omegaresearchfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/asa1704 22014en.pdf>, p. 25.