States and companies are manufacturing, promoting and selling electric shock equipment that is being used for torture and other ill-treatment, said Amnesty International, in a new report calling for a global, legally-binding treaty to regulate the unchecked production of and trade in law enforcement equipment.

“I Still Can’t Sleep at Night” – The Global Abuse of Electric Shock Equipment, documents how law enforcement agencies are using inherently abusive direct contact electric shock weapons – including stun guns and electric shock batons– on the street, at borders, in migrant and refugee detention centres, mental health institutions, police stations, prisons, and other places of detention.

These inherently abusive devices, which deliver painful shocks at the press of a button, have been used against protesters, students, political opponents, women and girls (including pregnant women), children and human rights defenders, among others. Survivors have suffered burns, numbness, miscarriage, urinary dysfunction, insomnia, exhaustion and profound psychological trauma.

The report also looks at the escalating misuse of Projectile Electric Shock Weapons (PESWs), which can have a legitimate role in law enforcement, but are often misused. Cases include the unnecessary and discriminatory use against vulnerable groups resulting in serious injuries and in some cases even death.

Direct contact electric shock weapons can cause severe suffering, long-lasting physical disability and psychological distress.

Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International

“Direct contact electric shock weapons can cause severe suffering, long-lasting physical disability and psychological distress. Prolonged use can even result in death,” said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s researcher on military, security and policing issues.

“PESWs are being used against individuals who pose no risk of violence, simply for punishment or compliance with orders. They are also being used in direct contact ‘drive stun’ mode, which should be prohibited. Despite the clear human rights risks associated with their use, there are no global regulations controlling the production of and trade in electric shock equipment. Direct contact electric shock weapons need to be banned immediately and PESWs subject to strict human-rights-based trade controls.”

The extensive report draws on research carried out by Amnesty International from 2014 to 2024 in over 40 countries across all regions across the world, where cases involving torture and other ill-treatment using electric shock equipment have been documented.

Vulnerable groups targeted by electric shock weapons

Testimonies gathered by Amnesty International are harrowing.

During the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising in Iran, the military unit IRGC Basijbattalion forced several boys to stand with their legs apart in a line alongside adult detainees and administered electric shocks to their genitals with stun guns.

In another case, several schoolboys were abducted for writing the protest slogan “Woman Life Freedom” on a wall. One of the boys told Amnesty International: “They hit my face with the back of a gun, gave electric shocks to my back, and beat me with batons on the bottom of my feet and hands…”

PESWs have often been used as de facto direct contact electric shock weapons when deployed in “drive stun” mode.

“I was lying on the ground and still they have used tasers on me three times, and at the same time they beat me with the batons.

Detainee from Sub-Saharan Africa

Recounting a raid by border guards on the Medininkai detention centre in Lithuania on 2 March 2022, one detainee from Sub-Saharan Africa said: “I was lying on the ground and still they have used tasers on me three times, and at the same time they beat me with the batons.” Another described being threatened by police officers who placed a “taser” on her forehead, telling her “‘Shut up or I will shoot you!’”

“Even when used as a stand-off weapon, PESWs have been linked to serious injuries and deaths,” said Patrick Wilcken. “These include dart lacerations and penetration of the skull, eye, internal organs, throat, fingers and testis; electrical discharge induced burns, seizures and arrythmias; and a variety of injuries and deaths from falls.”

Amnesty’s report reveals patterns of PESWs’ discriminatory deployment against racialized and marginalized groups, such as young Black men. In April 2024, police in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, were filmed using a TASER directly on the leg of a Black protester at a Palestine solidarity demonstration while he was pinned to the ground by three police officers and handcuffed.

“Given the high risks of primary and secondary injuries, the use of PESWs must be set at a high threshold. These weapons should only be used only in situations involving a threat to life or risk of serious injury which cannot be contained by less extreme options,” said Patrick Wilcken.

The urgent need for prohibitions and trade regulation of electric shock equipment

At least 197 companies from all regions manufactured or promoted direct contact electric shock equipment for law enforcement between January 2018 and June 2023 – with most companies based in countries such as China, India and the USA.

According to US-based Axon Enterprise, Inc., their TASER brand models are currently used by over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in more than 80 countries.

“There is an urgent need for a legally-binding treaty which would prohibit inherently abusive electric shock equipment and strictly control the trade in PESWs,” said Patrick Wilcken.

“Companies should implement robust human rights due diligence and mitigation measures to ensure their products and services are not being systematically misused for torture or other ill-treatment. This includes ceasing production of direct contact electric shock devices and removing the ‘drive stun’ function from PESWs.”

Amnesty International, along with a global civil society network of over 80 organizations worldwide, is campaigning for the negotiation of a Torture-Free Trade Treaty that would introduce global prohibitions and controls on a wide range of law enforcement equipment, including electric shock weapons and equipment.

Background

In September 2017, the EU, Argentina and Mongolia launched the Alliance for Torture-Free Trade at the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The Alliance currently comprises 62 states from all regions of the world pledging to “act together to further prevent, restrict and end trade” in goods used notably for torture or other ill-treatment. In October 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture presented a thematic report on the torture trade at the UNGA which argued for a legally binding instrument to regulate the production of and trade in law enforcement equipment and included lists of goods considered prohibited and controlled.

This is one of a series of in-depth research reports showing the devastating human rights impact of law enforcement equipment; previous reports include work on tear gas, batons, rubber bullets, and the trade in less lethal weapons used to repress protesters.

Header image: A Baltimore Police officer aims his taser at a demonstrator outside the Mondawmin Mall following the funeral of Freddie Gray April 27, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.