30 LAW-ENFORCEMENT EQUIPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA AND THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
[that the] use of electric batons be banned in South Africa. This should remain the
case until a regulatory framework exists for the manufacture, sale and use of electric
batons and reliable and independent medical and legal research establishes that the
use of the electric baton on any person would not subject such a person to cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.78
Controls over the trade in law-enforcement devices in the Caucasus and
Central Asia are opaque. For example, Kazakhstan’s control list references
‘usual military equipment’ but does not disaggregate further.79 Export-control
regulations, where publicly available, often do not specifically reference lawenforcement equipment. In many cases, curbs on the ownership of firearms
have been implemented. For example, Kazakhstan lists electric-shock
weapons and tear-gas-dispensing devices as self-defence weapons that require
a permit to own and trade in.80Traditionally, however, there appear to have
been far fewer attempts to regulate the trade in, and use of, law-enforcement
equipment.
This may be due to a number of factors. First, the perceived lack of threat to
state security by the trade in such devices, as opposed to small arms and light
weapons, which have more obvious national and regional security
implications in relation to their trade and proliferation. Second (and potentially
more compelling), the availability of law-enforcement equipment for civilian
self-defence purposes—especially, less-lethal weapons including electricshock weapons, riot control agents and their dispensing devices such as pepper
sprays, and ‘rubber-bullet’ guns. There may have been a perception that such
devices are less problematic than firearms. For example, both Kazakhstan and
Mongolia have passed legislation that prohibits private security companies
from using certain types of firearm, but authorizes the use of a range of lesslethal weapons. In 2010 the Kazakh Government passed a law which
prohibited private security companies from using ‘rifled long-and shortbarrelled firearms’, instead ruling that they can only use smooth-bore firearms
or barrel-less firearms with less-lethal (‘traumatic’) cartridges. They are also
authorized to use ‘electric’ weapons.81 In Mongolia, the 2001 Law on Private
Protection prohibits all bodyguards ‘from using firearms, although they may
78
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (note 77), p. 7, para. 12.
Kazakh Government, Law on Export Control, <http://www.vertic.org/media/National%20
Legislation/Kazakhstan/KZ_Law_on_Export_Control.pdf>. A 2009 Saferworld report states that
Kazakhstan controls 21 different categories of military equipment. The report also states that Kyrgyzstan
‘currently controls 18 categories of equipment for export and 13 for import. Farha, J. et al. (2009), The
Arms Trade Treaty and Military Equipment the case for a comprehensive scope, pp. 6, 11,
<http://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/view-resource/399-the-arms-trade-treaty-and-militaryequipment>. Furthermore, a presentation by the Deputy Director of the Institute of Radiation Problems
of Azerbaijan, National Academy of Sciences states that a list of controlled equipment for export was
established by Decision No. 42 of the Cabinet of Ministers in 2006, and that this control list is the
‘unified control list of the EU’. See <http://www.stcu.int/documents/reports/distribution/
unoda2013/Export_Control_System_and_Dual_Use_Expertise_in_Azerbaijan_Republic.pdf>.
80 Authority of Internal Affairs, Regulation of voluntary reimbursable deposit of citizens illegally
stored firearms, ammunition and explosives, <http://www.kostanaypolice.kz/en/gosuslugi/lisenziya>.
81 Florquin, N. et al., Blue Skies and Dark Clouds: Kazakhstan and Small Arms, Small Arms Survey,
Occasional Paper 29 (2012), <http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/B-Occasional-papers/
SAS-OP29-Kazakhstan.pdf>, p. 16.
79
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