They call them “non-lethal” weapons. They do kill.
317 people with severe eye trauma were documented by the Chilean Medical Association during the 2019 social unrest
Every year, thousands of people are killed or maimed by riot-control weapons used against peaceful civilians. This petition seeks to ban these munitions from crowd control.
Rubber pellets (buckshot), wrongly called “non-lethal,” and metal pellets are authorized around the world to control violent crowds, but they are used against peaceful civilians to break up protests.
They have been proven to cause irreversible harm and even death. During Chile’s social unrest in October and November 2019, the Chilean Medical Association recorded 317 patients with severe eye trauma caused by pellet impacts: more than 100 of them lost an eye, and some lost both. It was the highest number of eye injuries ever documented in a social protest anywhere in the world.
We demand an immediate and total ban on the use of rubber and metal pellets against peaceful protesters. Rules and regulations are not enough: they do not limit their lethal effect.
Our president, Guillermo Whpei, together with Rigoberta Menchú Tum, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has documented the situation in Chile and around the world in detail, presenting the report of the Solidarity and Fact-Finding Mission at the Palacio de la Moneda and to international bodies.