Amnesty publishes new guidelines on use of force by police globally

Amnesty International has published a new set of guidelines to curb excessive use of force by police, which is aimed to ensure the service gives priority to the respect and protection of life and physical integrity.

Entitled "Use of Force – Guidelines for Implementation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law enforcement officials," the new set of guidelines will mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Basic Principles in September 1990.

The guidelines have been drawn from examples of national laws, internal regulations and training documents from 58 countries across the world.

The proposed recommendations are intended to support government authorities in ensuring effective human rights-compliant policing while implementing the UN Basic Principles.

Amnesty International Netherlands Police and Human Rights Programme Dr Anja Bienert said: "The UN Basic Principles are an acknowledgement that, in certain limited circumstances, police can and will need to use force to maintain law and order.

"But this must be done in compliance with international human rights law and it certainly must never be seen as a licence to kill nor as granting immunity to police officials: nobody is above the law, especially those who have a duty to uphold the law."

According to Amnesty, the new initiative is the result of the frequent news of police use of force and firearms globally, including the killings by police in Brazil, police shootings in the USA resulting in the death of unarmed people and heavy-handed police operations with lethal force in Bangladesh.

Such attacks contradict international human rights obligations, deficient internal regulations, inadequate training and equipment, lack of command control and the absence of accountability for police who act outside the law, said the organisation.

Bienert concluded: "Nobody is disputing that police have a challenging, and often even dangerous, duty to perform. But governments and law enforcement authorities frequently fail to create a framework to ensure that police only use force lawfully, in compliance with human rights and as a last resort.

"These new Guidelines aim to close that gap and provide legal and practical measures which states can and must take to ensure police use of force is not excessive, abusive, arbitrary or otherwise unlawful. For this to happen, full accountability must be ensured for any use of force by police."