enforcement as well as the compatibility of certain types of equipment with human rights norms and standards. developing trade regulations, intended to restrict the manufacture, promotion and sale of certain types of law In particular, human rights organisations including Omega, observe how poor regulation combined with the enforcement equipment9. privately led growth of the sector has led to the development of types of equipment which are inherently abusive and whose use is inconsistent with the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment6. The use of law enforcement equipment to commit acts of torture and other ill-treatment has also raised concerns about the extent to which the sale of such equipment to abusive regimes is consistent with business and human rights principles and other human rights standards. From this perspective, attempts to prevent the types of human rights violations associated with the use of law enforcement equipment must not only involve better training and increased accountability for law enforcement officials, but also greater regulation of the manufacture, promotion and trade of the equipment itself. In the context of growing international concern with the manufacture and trade of law enforcement equipment and weapons as well as Brazil’s emergence as a significant competitor in the sector, this report aims to provide an insight into this aspect of Brazil’s arms trade, as well as develop recommendations about how this trade can be better controlled and regulated. In order to provide context for the rest of the report, section one briefly introduces the types of law enforcement and security equipment currently used by police and prison officials in Brazil, including their technical features and potential human rights implications. This section also highlights several recent examples of how these types of equipment have been misused by Brazilian law enforcement officials on the streets and in places of detention. Section two of the report then provides an analysis of Brazilian manufacturers of law enforcement equipment and weapons and the products they produce. In doing so, this section also highlights a number of important issues which should be taken into consideration when testing and selecting equipment for use by law enforcement. In section three, the report examines Brazil’s trade in law enforcement equipment and weapons, beginning with an analysis of the promotion of Brazilian products globally and Brazil’s current import market. This is then followed by an analysis of Brazilian exports of law enforcement equipment and weapons, including several case studies which raise serious concerns about the effectiveness of Brazil’s export control regime over the past decade. Finally, the report examines recent changes to the regulations governing the export and import of law enforcement equipment in Brazil and concludes by making a series of recommendations about how these regulations might be strengthened. METHODOLOGY Research for this report was carried out by the Omega Research Foundation (Omega) during late ▲ Festa popular é reprimida em SP" by midianinja is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 In response to these concerns, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has urged states to “take appropriate effective legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures to prevent and prohibit the production, trade, export, import and use of equipment that has no practical use other than for torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”7. The UN Guidance on Less Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement, meanwhile, recommends that States ‘regulate all transfers, including export and import of less lethal weapons and related equipment in accordance with international obligations. They should put in place risk assessment procedures to ensure that such items are not used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law or violation of the rights to life, to physical integrity, to freedom of peaceful assembly or to a fair trial, or of other due process guarantees or other human rights’8. Concerns about the manufacture and trade of law enforcement and security equipment have also been evident at the regional level, with several intergovernmental bodies including the EU and the Council of Europe already implementing or in the process of 6 2019 and early 2020. The dataset of information about companies engaged in the manufacture and trade of law enforcement equipment on which this report draws has been maintained and updated by Omega, which has researched the global police and security equipment market since 1990. Omega carries out market surveying on a continuous basis and gathers current as well as historical market, product and trade data from a wide range of open and commercial sources. These include information from company websites and brochures; industry sector publications; government publications; company and financial information from national company registries; government and commercially-produced trade statistics; media organisations; and credible reports and publications by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international governmental organisations (IGOs). Unless otherwise stated, data about the size, scope and evolution of the manufacture, promotion and trade of law enforcement equipment is taken from Omega’s datasets. Case studies of the abusive use of law enforcement equipment in Brazil and internationally have been drawn from a wide range of sources including, news reports, human rights monitoring body reports and reports published by national and international human rights organisations. All information, including photographs, relating to specific companies is for illustrative purposes only. Unless otherwise stated, it is not intended to infer wrong-doing on the part of these companies and no such inference should be drawn. All of the companies included in this report have been contacted for comment prior to publication. 7