Conclusion This report describes the increasingly wide range of law enforcement weapons and other equipment made in China, much of it intended for export, and examines the human rights implications of this trade, based on the information available. Leaving aside China’s large trade in firearms and related ammunition, this report identifies the growing threats to human rights of China’s domestic use and export of weapons and other equipment marketed to law enforcement agencies. As outlined in this report, Amnesty International and Omega consider that some of the weapons and equipment manufactured in China have inherently abusive effects that are contrary to international human rights standards for law enforcement. Such equipment includes weighted leg cuffs, a range of combination cuffs, restraint chairs, direct contact electric stun weapons and spiked batons. Given the intrinsically inhumane nature of these types of equipment, the Chinese authorities should immediately prohibit their production, promotion, trade, transfer and use. Furthermore, Chinese companies manufacturing intrinsically abusive law enforcement equipment are in clear breach of their corporate responsibility to respect human rights. In relation to equipment that has a legitimate role in law enforcement, this report has found that Chinese authorities do not have in place the necessary safeguards to prevent exports to end users who pose a high risk of using or misusing the equipment to commit serious human rights violations. Chinese companies are also failing to act with due diligence in relation to the export of law enforcement equipment, breaching internationally-accepted standards on business and human rights. There is an urgent need for fundamental reforms in the law, policy and practice surrounding China’s law enforcement equipment manufacturing industry and trade, in order to remove any substantial risk of such equipment being used for torture and other ill-treatment and repression; these reforms must include a ban on the manufacture, sale and export of “tools of torture”. The Chinese authorities also have an obligation to investigate allegations of torture and other illtreatment and excessive use of force in detention facilities and in policing demonstrations, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice, and to provide victims with an effective remedy. However, China is not the only state that should urgently review its law and practices regarding it production, trade and use of weapons and other equipment for law enforcement. The increasing spread of manufacturing and trade as global markets for such products expand, and the creation of inappropriate devices and even torture instruments for law enforcement, as well as the misuse by law enforcers of equipment that would otherwise have a legitimate function, all necessitate that the recommendations below should be carefully considered by all states. Recommendations: Production, promotion and trade of law enforcement equipment Amnesty International and Omega call on the authorities of the Peoples’ Republic of China and those of all other states to: n Ban the production, promotion, trade, transfer and use of law enforcement equipment with inherent effects likely to result in unwarranted injuries, torture or other ill-treatment. Such equipment includes weighted leg cuffs, thumb cuffs, combination cuffs which fasten around the neck, combination handcuffs linked to leg cuffs, restraint chairs, batons / truncheons with spikes, and direct contact electric shock stun weapons such as stun guns, stun batons and stun shields. n Establish up to date trade control regulations for security and police equipment that can have legitimate uses in line with international standards on law enforcement but which is particularly easy to abuse or prone to cause injury or fatality, and regularly publish meaningful information on the volume, value and destination of the country’s trade in security and police equipment so as to enable appropriate oversight of such trade. China’s Trade in Tools of Torture and Repression Amnesty International – Index: ASA 17/042/2014 31