INTRODUCTION 3 Lithuania) to the Caucasus (e.g. Georgia and Azerbaijan).7 More recently, events in Kyrgyzstan saw a heavy-handed police and military response contributing to the ousting of President Bakiyev after several days of protests, with media reports stating that the police had resorted to using live ammunition when tear gas and rubber bullets failed to curb the protests.8 Both the Caucasus and Central Asian regions therefore show a variety of state responses to popular dissent that are of relevance to the discussion about the deployment of law-enforcement equipment. For example, the use of deadly force in Uzbekistan in 2005, and the international opprobrium that it generated, arguably did not contribute to any lessening of the iron grip of the ruling regime.9 In contrast, in Ukraine (an important ‘regional producer’ of equipment) a lethal response by security forces to unrest contributed to the collapse of the ruling government.10 It has been argued that the deployment of less-lethal weapons, while potentially curtailing the use of deadly force, is another useful tool in encouraging repressive practices. As Dr Erica Marat states, ‘any reform effort must strike a balance among better procurement of equipment and supplies, improved service, and greater respect for human rights. There is an inherent danger that a reformed, better equipped, and more efficient police will actually strengthen government control over society’.11 This report highlights a range of issues pertinent to those working in the fields of the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, prison and police reform, and trade controls. It aims to bring together several different strands relating to the manufacture and deployment of law-enforcement technologies, highlighting emerging regional sources of equipment manufacture and key international sources of equipment production and transfer to the region (see box 1.1). The report also raises issues relating to controls over international trade in law-enforcement equipment, highlighting current best practice and potential gaps. It concludes with an appraisal of the situation regarding the training in such devices given to regional law-enforcement and security personnel, by commercial and state actors and by regional mechanisms such as the OSCE and the Council of Europe. This report is not designed to be a comprehensive assessment of every type of police equipment available, rather to provide an illustrative range of devices, directly applicable to regions currently struggling with issues of torture, ill-treatment and the curtailment of fundamental freedoms (e.g. of assembly) that are also seen as potentially lucrative markets for external manufacturers of equipment. As such, the report serves partly as an 7 On Lithuania, see Keller, B., ‘Soviet crackdown; Soviet loyalists in charge after attack in Lithuania; 13 dead; curfew is imposed’, New York Times, 14 Jan. 1991. On Georgia, see the case study in chapter 6. On Azerbaijan, see Black January 19–20 Jan. 1990. 8 Stewart, W., ‘Kyrgyzstan president “flees country” after up to 100 killed in bloody revolution’, Mail Online, 8 Apr. 2010, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264307/Kyrgyzstan-PresidentKurmanbek-Bakiyev-flees-country-bloody-revolution.html (accessed 14/12/2014)>. 9 BBC News, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4550845.stm>. 10 Buckley, N. et al., ‘Yanukovich toppled in new Ukrainian revolution’, Financial Times, 22 Feb. 2014. 11 Marat, E., ‘Reforming the police in post-Soviet states: Georgia and Kyrgyzstan’, Nov. 2013, <http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub1184.pdf>