40 countries including the UK where cases involving torture and other ill-treatment using electric shock equipment have been documented

197 companies manufactured or promoted direct contact electric shock equipment for law enforcement - most companies based in China, India and the USA

Survivors have suffered burns, numbness, miscarriage, urinary dysfunction, insomnia, exhaustion and profound psychological trauma

‘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...’ – schoolboy in Iran

In the UK, Tasers were drawn, aimed or discharged 33,232 times between April 2023 to March 2024

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.

The 72-page report - “I Still Can’t Sleep at Night” The Global Abuse of Electric Shock Equipment - draws on research carried out by Amnesty from 2014 to 2024 in over 40 countries including the UK, where cases involving torture and other ill-treatment using electric shock equipment have been documented.

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.

The 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.

Trade fairs in the UK

In September 2024, Amnesty and the Omega Research Foundation found that a British company, The Squad Group Ltd led by retired police officers - including a former Assistant Chief Constable - were caught on camera demonstrating electric-shock torture equipment at a trade fair in Birmingham.

The revelations raised serious questions about the enforcement of laws in relation to the prohibition of torture equipment as well as the staging of security equipment trade events. The trade in direct-contact and body-worn electric-shock weapons is illegal under laws regulating the arms and security trade, with UK companies and nationals banned from importing, exporting or in any way promoting these goods anywhere in the world. Electric-shock weapons are prohibited under The Trade in Torture etc. Goods (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, and current Government export control guidance clearly states that all trading activity, including promotion and marketing of these goods anywhere in the world, is prohibited.

More information about The Squad Group Ltd here.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK's Chief Executive, said:

“It’s shocking that prohibited torture equipment is openly being promoted and demonstrated by a UK company.

“Despite raising this case directly with the UK government in September last year, no satisfactory answers have been provided to shed light on how these electric shock weapons have been able to be advertised, promoted and demonstrated despite seemingly robust legislation banning these activities. Alarmingly, since first alerting the authorities to this case, it has become clear that they have been demonstrated to several UK policing bodies.

“Bringing any direct-contact electric-shock weapon into the UK must surely be a serious breach of current UK arms trade regulations that have been in place since prohibitions on electric shock weapons were first introduced by then Labour Foreign secretary Robin Cooke in 1997. To this day, these electric shock weapons are still being promoted for sale, suggesting that our existing rules are either not being properly enforced or are riddled with loopholes.”

Tasers used in the UK

In the latest use of force figures for England and Wales published by Home Office for April 2023 to March 2024, Tasers were used – that is drawn, aimed or discharged - a total of 33,232 times and police threatened to use Tasers against children 2,895 times with 66 charges. Five of those incidents, officers threatened to use Tasers against children under the age of 11.

Tasers were used on Black people at a rate of 4.2 times higher than someone from a white ethnic group in England and Wales (excluding the Metropolitan Police). In the MET police area, Tasers were used at a rate of 4.4 times higher when percentages of Taser use by ethnicity were compared with the breakdown of ethnic groups in the general population in the 2021 Census. According to the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that Black people were more likely to be tasered for prolonged periods (over 5 seconds) than white people.

Sacha Deshmukh added:

“The police have a disturbing record of misusing Tasers, using them disproportionately against people from minority ethnic communities and those suffering from mental health crises, and also when people have been running away from officers and presenting no risk to them or the public.  

“Tasers are potentially lethal weapons and they should only be made available to properly-trained specialist officers, and not normalised as a piece of weaponry available to every police officer operating on our streets.”  

More information about Tasers used in the UK from page 30 in the report.

Electric shock weapons used around the world

During the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising in Iran, the military unit IRGC Basij battalion 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:

“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. 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!’”

Amnesty’s report reveals patterns of PESWs’ discriminatory deployment against racialised and marginalised 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.

The urgent need for prohibitions and trade regulation

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.

Amnesty along with a global civil society network of over 80 organisations 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.

Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s researcher on military, security and policing issues, said:

“Projectile Electric Shock Weapons are being used against individuals who pose no risk of violence, simply for punishment or compliance with orders.

“Direct contact electric shock weapons can cause psychological distress, severe suffering, long-lasting physical disability. 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. 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 Projectile Electric Shock Weapons subject to strict human-rights-based trade controls.

“There is an urgent need for a legally-binding treaty which would prohibit inherently abusive electric shock equipment and strictly control the trade in Projectile Electric Shock Weapons.

“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 Projectile Electric Shock Weapons.”

Alliance for Torture-Free Trade

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.