If employed in conformity with international human rights law and standards, in particular regarding the use of force, certain types of such weapons can have a legitimate role in law enforcement. However, most launched projectiles are relatively inaccurate, particularly at longer ranges and consequently cannot be safely used without the risk of impacting a person on a vulnerable part of the body leading to severe injury.xxvii Ammunition containing multiple projectiles is both inherently inaccurate and indiscriminate, and poses a high risk of hitting anyone in the vicinity of the person targeted, as well as hitting vulnerable areas of the body e.g. head. Furthermore, ammunition containing small pellets poses a significant risk of severe eye injury and blinding. Although kinetic impact projectiles are designed to cause non-penetrating blunt trauma on impact; they can penetrate the body and also cause other serious injuries including lacerations, broken bones, concussion, head injuries or internal organ damage and their use has resulted in many deaths. The risk of serious injury or death is also significantly increased when kinetic impact projectiles are aimed at sensitive parts of the body or fired at close range. Moreover, human rights organizations have regularly documented their abuse – in custodial and non-custodial settings - 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 Brazil: Misuse of kinetic impact projectiles for the torture of prisoners Closed circuit footage of a 2013 incident at the Joinville Regional Prison in Santa Catarina State, Brazil, received widespread media attention.xxviii The footage showed officials, reportedly from the Department of Prison Administration, forcing a group of male detainees stripped down to their underwear to line up in tightly-packed rows, crouch down with their hands on their heads and face the wall. Behind the prisoners, a group of approximately 12 armed officials fire kinetic impact projectiles (as well as tear gas) against the detainees; officers are also seen spraying what appears to be a chemical irritant directly into prisoner’s eyes. This behaviour clearly constitutes torture and consequently violates the UN Convention Against Torturexxix and also the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torturexxx. France: Misuse of kinetic impact projectiles during Yellow Vest demonstrators Reports from human rights monitors and media organisations indicate the inappropriate and dangerous use by French police of a range of kinetic impact projectiles (classed as ‘intermediate weapons’) against ‘Yellow Vest’ protests which began in November 2018. Of particular concern has been the misuse of 40x46mm rubber bullets fired from ‘lanceur de balle de défense LBD’ launchers (B+T GL-06 grenade launchers). According to the French Ministry of the Interior, 12,122 LBD rounds (as well as 1,428 GLI F4 instantaneous tear gas grenades) were fired and 4,942 hand held sting grenades thrown between the beginning of the Yellow Vest protests until 4 February 2019.xxxi The Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner highlighted her concern at the “high level of use of these so-called intermediate weapons despite the fact that their deployment is restricted and they can cause serious injury”.xxxii According to research by an independent journalist, cited by the CoE Human Rights Commissioner, the three types of “intermediate weapon” referred to above were involved in 253 of 428 reports made to the journalist by persons claiming to be victims of police violence – with LBDs accounting for 193 of these cases. The CoE Human Rights Commissioner further noted that the journalist’s count highlighted 38 wounds to upper limbs including 5 lost hands, 52 wounds to lower limbs, 3 wounds to the genitals and 189 head wounds including 20 people who had lost an eye.xxxiii The CoE Human Rights Commissioner specifically noted that “many head wound victims attributed their injuries to intermediate