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Stopping the torture trade
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received from manufacturers of electro-shock weapons, nor has
the Commission identified which companies have been granted
CE certification, which guarantees the safety of the user, though
not of the victim.
Most countries do not provide specific details of
international transfers or sales of electro-shock weapons. Nor
do they require brokers or carriers of such equipment to register
officially with the government, or to seek licensed approval
from their government for exports of such weapons, especially
through “third” countries. As a result the trade in electro-shock
weapons continues to flourish under a cloak of officiallycondoned
secrecy.
The USA is the largest supplier of electro-shock technology.
AI research has uncovered 86 US companies that have
manufactured, marketed, bought or sold electro-shock devices
during the 1990s. In the past a number of US companies have
been granted licences by the US Department of Commerce to
transfer such devices to countries where electro-shock torture
has been recorded. Most information on such licences has been
kept secret, supposedly for reasons of “commercial
confidentiality”. Freedom of Information requests by AI have
revealed that between 1997 and 2000 the US Commerce
Department approved exports of stun guns, electro-shock
batons and optical sighting devices to Russia (US$4.17 million),
Saudi Arabia (US$3 million), Slovenia (US$2.16 million), Bulgaria
(US$1.54 million), United Arab Emirates (US$1.2 million) and
Croatia (US$1.07 million).
Following campaigns by AI and other non-governmental
organizations, the US Department of Commerce made changes to
the export commodity code (ECC) for electro-shock devices.
First, the ECC was modified to remove shotguns, and then to
remove “optical sighting devices”, so that it would be easier for
the public and Congress to monitor US export data specifically
on electro-shock equipment and, more importantly, to regulate
them. The new export control category (ECC OA985) introduced
in September 2000 includes:
“Discharge type arms (for example, stun guns, shock
batons, electric cattle prods, immobilization guns and
projectiles) except equipment used exclusively to treat or