Police equipment from China aids rights violations: Amnesty

More than 130 Chinese companies are making and selling equipment that can be used for torture, fueling human-rights violations across Africa and Asia, according to a report by Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation. The number of companies involved in the production and trade of potentially dangerous law enforcement equipment has risen from 28 a decade ago, according to the report entitled “China’s Trade in Tools of Torture and Repression.” Some of the devices marketed by these companies include electric-shock stun batons, metal-spiked truncheons and weighted leg cuffs. China is the only country known to manufacture spiked batons, which have metal spikes along their entire length or are plastic batons with a spiked metal head, the report added.

Increasing numbers of Chinese companies are profiting from the trade in tools of torture and repression, fueling human rights abuses across the world.

Amnesty International security trade and human rights researcher, Patrick Wilcken

China is exporting other equipment that can have legitimate use in policing, such as tear gas and plastic projectiles or riot-control vehicles, even when there is a risk of serious human-rights violations by the receiving law enforcement agencies. The spiked batons have been “reportedly” used by police in Cambodia and exported to security forces in Nepal and Thailand, the report added, without citing where it got the information. But China’s export system is not the only one failing to effectively control the transfer of law enforcement equipment to ensure respect for human rights, the report said, citing other places such as the European Union and the U.S.

China’s policies are leading people to adopt fierce measures of resistance to maintain their dignity and justice.

World Uyghur Congress

Asia-Pacific