CONTROL 3.2.3 KINETIC IMPACT WEAPONS and DEVICES KINETIC IMPACT WEAPONS/DEVICES INCLUDING BATONS, PLASTIC AND RUBBER BULLETS Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation have identified companies throughout all regions of the world that have manufactured or promoted hand-held kinetic impact (or striking) weapons, notably batons and truncheons; or launched kinetic impact weapons and projectiles such as plastic and rubber bullets.28 Such handheld or launched weapons and projectiles are widely employed by law enforcement officials mostly in public order policing as well as in places of detention. If employed in conformity with international human rights law and standards, in Image of range of batons particular regarding the use of force, certain types (© Robin Ballantyne/Omega Research Foundation). of such weapons can have a legitimate role in law enforcement.29 However, equipment relying on kinetic energy should not be designed to penetrate the skin by, for example, reducing the contact area. Serious injuries may also be caused by a nonpenetrating impact. Moreover, human rights organizations have regularly documented their widespread abuse to inflict unnecessary or excessive force, which has amounted in certain cases to torture or other ill-treatment, or has resulted in serious injury or death.30 UKRAINE: BEATINGS WITH BATONS Police used batons to beat protestors during the EuroMaydan protests in Ukraine, between 21 November 2013 and 22 February 2014. The protests started peacefully but escalated into a series of violent and often deadly confrontations between protesters and law enforcement officials. Police abuses significantly fuelled the EuroMaydan protests and in many instances led to further escalation of violence. During an otherwise overwhelmingly peaceful protest on 1 December 2013, a small group of protesters in Bankova Street, near the Presidential Administration Building, in Kiev, engaged in violence while the police charged the crowd a number of times, indiscriminately beating fleeing protesters. Berkut (special police force) police officers beat with batons and kicked repeatedly those who fell while fleeing and continued to beat individuals who were apprehended, 28 See for example: Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation, China’s trade in tools of torture and repression (Index: ASA 17/042/2014); Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation, Grasping the nettle: Ending Europe’s trade in execution and torture technology (Index: ACT 01/1632/2015); Omega Research Foundation, “Manufacture, trade and use of ‘tools of torture’ in the Council of Europe”, June 2018; Omega Research Foundation, “Tools of torture and repression in South America: Use, manufacture and trade”, July 2016. 29 For more information on the human rights impact of kinetic impact projectiles, see Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation, The human rights impact of less-lethal weapons and other law enforcement equipment (Index: ACT 30/1305/2015). 30 See for example, Omega Research Foundation, “Manufacture, trade and use of ‘tools of torture’ in the Council of Europe”, June 2018. 18 COMBATING TORTURE: THE NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE REGULATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EQUIPMENT Amnesty International | Omega Research Foundation