“I Still Can’t Sleep at Night” – The Global Abuse of Electric Shock Equipment, documents how 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.

These devices, which deliver painful shocks at the press of a button, have been used against protesters, students, political opponents, 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.

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.

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!’”

Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s researcher on military, security and policing issues, said: “PESWs are being used against individuals who pose no risk of violence, simply for punishment or compliance with orders. 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 PESWs subject to strict human-rights-based trade controls.”

The extensive report draws on research carried out by Amnesty International from 2014 to 2024 in over 40 countries across all regions across the world, where cases involving torture and other ill-treatment using electric shock equipment have been documented.

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.

Mr Wilcken added: “There is an urgent need for a legally-binding treaty which would prohibit inherently abusive electric shock equipment and strictly control the trade in PESWs.

“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 PESWs.”