Electric shock has long been a common method of inflicting torture or other forms of ill-treatment worldwide.
While electric shocks are sometimes inflicted using makeshift equipment – for instance, car batteries, mains wires or cattle prods – a wide variety of electric shock devices are specifically designed for and marketed to law enforcement. These range from electric shock stun guns, batons, shields and body-worn electric shock devices which deliver electric shocks through direct contact with the body, to projectile electric shock weapons (PESWs) which can be fired from a distance, but which also can be used in direct contact “drive stun” mode.
Portable and easy to use, with the capacity to inflict severe pain at the push of a button, electric shock equipment designed for law enforcement has often raised human rights concerns. Despite the clear human rights risks associated with its use, there are no global regulations controlling what type of electric shock law enforcement equipment is permitted to be manufactured and used, or how and where equipment which can have a legitimate role in law enforcement, such as PESWs, can be traded.
This report brings together illustrative cases of both categories of electric shock equipment used for law enforcement which show the true human cost of the unregulated trade in and use of these goods, and the urgent need for coordinated, global action on this issue.
It features disturbing cases of torture and other ill-treatment using this equipment from all regions documented by Amnesty International, other civil society organizations, as well as United Nations (UN) and regional torture prevention bodies over the last decade.