© Robin Ballantyne © Robin Ballantyne top: A selection of Chinese straight, side handled and telescopic batons above and right: Chinese spiked batons © Robin Ballantyne STRIKING WEAPONS Hand-held kinetic impact weapons, also known as striking weapons, including batons and truncheons can have a legitimate law enforcement use when used correctly and strictly in accordance with international standards. Amnesty International and Omega consider some variations, such as spiked batons, as inherently abusive. Omega has records of 82 companies in China manufacturing or trading kinetic impact or striking weapons and of these seven state they export. Spiked batons have been advertised at international trade fairs and there have been some reports of improvised “spiked clubs”, “sticks studded with nails” and “metal batons spiked with nails” being used against protesters in Tibet.40 Inherently abusive striking weapons Spiked batons: China is the only country known to manufacture spiked batons, which are either completely composed of metal with metal spikes along the entire length of the baton or are plastic batons with a spiked metal head (see images above). Alternative names for these spiked metal batons are “sting stick” or “wolf stick”. The United States Bureau of Industry and Security considers spiked batons to be “specially designed implements of torture” and has imposed a presumption of denial on their trade.41 The European Commission (EC) has stated that “while the spikes are capable of causing significant pain or suffering, spiked batons do not appear more effective for riot control or self-protection than ordinary batons and the pain or suffering caused by the spikes is therefore cruel and not strictly necessary for the purpose of riot control or self-protection” and has banned companies in the EU from importing or exporting them.42 12 China’s Trade in Tools of Torture and Repression Amnesty International – Index: ASA 17/042/2014