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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue

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Results for crowd management

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Author: Physicians for Human Rights

Title: Lethal in Disguise: The Health Consequences of Crowd-Control Weapons

Summary: In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of popular protests in which people have taken to the streets to express grievances and claim their rights. In many cases, police and security forces have responded in ways that profoundly undermine the fundamental rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, often leading to escalations in violence through unwarranted, inappropriate, or disproportionate uses of force. Law enforcement throughout the world is increasingly responding to popular protests with crowd-control weapons (CCWs). The proliferation of CCWs without adequate regulation, training, monitoring, and/or accountability, has led to the widespread and routine use or misuse of these weapons, resulting in injury, disability, and death. There is a significant gap in knowledge about the health effects of CCWs and an absence of meaningful international standards or guidelines around their use. As a result, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) partnered to document the health consequences of CCWs and examine their roles and limitations in protest contexts and make recommendations about their safe use. This report aims to raise awareness about the misuse and abuse of CCWs, the detrimental health effects that these weapons can have, and the impact of their use on the meaningful enjoyment of freedom of assembly and expression. We also seek to foster a global debate to develop international standards and guidelines. Ultimately, our goal is to prevent injury, disability, and death by providing information about CCWs and insisting on their safe use. The misuse of CCWs and the human rights concerns that arise from this misuse are the result of a number of factors, the most significant of which are: gaps in international standards and regulations; insufficient testing, training, and regulations; a rapidly-growing industry; and a lack of accountability. There are many flagrant examples of the misuse of CCWs, some of which are documented in case studies included in this report. In Kenya, five children and one police officer were injured in a stampede resulting from tear gas being fired directly at schoolchildren protesting the seizure of a playground. In the United States, police intervention in the Black Lives Matter protests included the indiscriminate use of tear gas, disorientation devices, acoustice devices, beanbag rounds, and rubber bullets. In Egypt, a police officer was caught on video deliberately firing pellets at protesters' upper bodies in order to maximise injury. These troubling case studies, and others, are included throughout this report to put the medical evidence into context. The report examines six kinds of CCWs used internationally: kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), chemical irritants, water cannons, disorientation devices, acoustic weapons, and directed energy devices. The health effects of kinetic impact projectiles and chemical irritants are described in significant detail; these are the two weapon types about which there is a critical mass of data to analyse. The following systematic reviews evaluated published and grey literature released between January 1, 1990 and March 31, 2015.

Details: New York: Physicians for Human Rights and INCLO, 2016. 104p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 21, 2016 at: https://ccla.org/cclanewsite/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/WEAPONREPORT_FINAL_WEB_PAGES.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: International

URL: https://ccla.org/cclanewsite/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/WEAPONREPORT_FINAL_WEB_PAGES.pdf

Shelf Number: 138346

Keywords:
Crowd Control
Crowd Management
Disorderly Conduct
Police Use of Force
Public Disorders
Public Order Management
Riots