In this era marked by democratic volatility, spiraling prices and calls for social change, peaceful protests are increasingly being policed with a heavy hand. The risk of anti-authoritarian protest feels particularly high.<\/p>\n
In Europe \u2014 and beyond \u2014 security forces are maintaining order through often brutal tactics, which utilise weapons and other instruments that have no purpose apart from inflicting excessive pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In July, the European Union quietly adopted a revised anti-torture regulation, binding on its 27 member states, that restricts trade outside Europe of certain law enforcement items and requires authorisation for companies trading in other equipment that has the potential to be misused to torture. <\/p>\n
They must be praised for their leadership on this issue, as the only political region to have adopted binding rules.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similar legislation has been adopted or is under consideration in Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Switzerland, and the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet this commitment is not matched in other countries, which appear to be taking matters into their own hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Georgia<\/p>\n
Take Georgia, where security forces late last year dispersed protesters demonstrating against the government\u2019s decision to suspend EU accession negotiations, by the indiscriminate use of rubber bullets and cannons allegedly infused with undisclosed chemical irritants<\/a> that caused hundreds of injuries and widespread distress. <\/p>\n The percentage of individuals who sustained serious head trauma and facial injuries from police action was also uncommonly high.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Serbia<\/p>\n Earlier this year in Serbia, an EU candidate country<\/a>, there were alarming reports that an experimental acoustic weapon was unleashed on protesters. <\/p>\n This caused a stampede, with protestors fainting, vomiting, experiencing heart palpitations, sweating excessively, being disoriented and even suffering from leg paralysis. Eyewitnesses of this strange weapon noted that the loud and unpleasant sound was accompanied by a sudden thrust of air and vibrations<\/a>. Proper investigations are needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Belarus and Turkey<\/p>\n The list goes on \u2014 in Belarus, security forces have been condemned for firing rubber-coated steel bullets into crowds<\/a>, and in Turkey recently anti-government protestors were sprayed with tear gas and water. More than 2,000 people were arrested<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n EU states are not exempt \u2014 in France, civilians have been injured and killed by explosive stun grenades<\/a>. I have also documented prohibited items on display for sale at major arms and security fairs, including in France and the UK<\/a> – a reminder that constant monitoring and vigilance is essential.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2023 at the UN General Assembly I called on United Nations member states to introduce a global agreement to govern the use and trade in law enforcement items with the view to prevent torture and other degrading treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n I distributed a list of 20 different types of torture instruments that are currently widely in use, which are inherently torturous and which should be immediately removed from production and trade. All are now considered illegal by international monitoring bodies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n My prohibited list includes a range of restraints from cage beds to thumb screws. It also bans spiked \u2014 as well as electrically charged \u2014 batons and shields. <\/p>\n Skin-heating weapons<\/p>\n Also included are the particularly terrifying experimental millimetre wave weapons, which use a form of directed energy to inflict pain by heating the skin from a distance. \u00a0<\/p>\n Weighted gloves \u2013 reportedly used to beat peaceful protesters in Hong Kong – dramatically increase the force of an impact and can cause excessive pain are also on my list.7 \u00a0All of these items are now on the new EU\u2019s banned list.\u00a0<\/p>\n