Non-lethal weapons

Hess, L., Schreiberova, J., Fusek, J. (2005). Pharmacological non-lethal weapons. Proceedings of the 3rd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Ettlingen, Germany, May 12-15, 2005. 

TERA (2001). Risk characterization of non-lethal weapons report on expert workshop and proposed conceptual framework. Veridian Engineering. October 5, 2001. 

See also CS Gas Non-Lethal Weapons, Chemical Riot Control Agents. 

Non-lethal weapons (NLW) or less-than-lethal weapons have been defined by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to be explicitly designed and primarily employed so as to incapacitate personnel or materiel, while minimizing fatalities, permanent injury to personnel, and undesired damage to property and the environment. NLWs are being developed and evaluated because the US military and other military and law enforcement organizations... 

DoD (Department of Defense) (1996) Directive 3000.3 Policy for Non-Lethal Weapons July 9. 

Non-Lethal Weapons, Chemical, Pages 258-260, Patricia M. Nance SummaryPlus Full Text + Links PDF (69 K)... 

Cooper, G., Injuries from non-lethal weapons. Bull. R.C. Pathol., 26, 78-79, 2004. 

Lewer, N. and Davison, N., Electrical stun weapons alternative to lethal force or a compliance tool, Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project, dated January 2006, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK, 2006. 

National Academy of Sciences, An assessment of non-lethal weapons science and technology, 2003. http // w w w. nap. edu / catalog/10538. html. 

Security Planning Corporation, Non-lethal weapons for law enforcement, research needs and priorities, A Report to the National Science Foundation, 1972. 

Dando, M., A New Form of Warfare The Rise of Non-Lethal Weapons, Brassey s, London, 1996. 

Lewer N and Schofield S (1997). Non-Lethal Weapons A Fatal Attraction London, UK Zed Books Ltd. 

Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (2003) Front End Analysis for Non-lethal Chemicals (available at http //www.sunshine-project.org/publications/nlwdpdt/ feachemical.jpg). 

The selective change perspective uses changes in military operations and technologies as a basis for advocating selective, case-by-case reforms in international law to allow NLW (Non-Lethal Weapons) development and use... . 

As an example, at present soldiers are clearly not allowed directly to target civilians with their lethal weapons. If it was to be agreed that civilians could be targeted directly with non-lethal weapons (although with such weapons there will always be a risk of deaths67) where does that leave the principle of discrimination between combatants and non-combatants ... 

Convulsives and calmatives may rely on their toxic properties to have a physiological effect on humans. If that is the case, and these two NLWs (Non-Lethal Weapons) are not considered RCAs (Riot Control Agents), in order to avoid being classified as a prohibited chemical weapon, they would have to be used for the article I(9)(d) purpose not prohibited" the law enforcement purpose. As discussed... the limits of this purpose not prohibited are not clear and will be determined by the practice of states (emphasis added). 

Editorial (2003b). Non-lethal weapons, the CWC and the BMW. CBW Conventions Bull, 61 (September), 1-2 (available at http //www. sussex.ac.uk/spru/hsp). 

Fidler DP (2001). Non-lethal weapons and international law three perspectives on the future. Med Conflict Survival, 17, 194-206. 

Several countries are currently developing and implementing new non-lethal capabilities. They do so in the belief that this will enable many emerging and non-traditional threats (which may appear in low intensity, asymmetric conflicts and non-combatant operations) to be countered with a progressive response. Non-lethal weapons are of interest to the military and to law enforcement agencies as, in many cases, the character of the scenarios is similar.61... 

One S T issue which received considerable attention in the run-up to the meeting and to which the above quote from the SAB report explicitly refers, was almost completely suppressed during the Conference the question of chemical incapacitants and so-called non-lethal chemical weapons, in which some CWC states parties recently have shown a renewed interest. Although two states parties -New Zealand and Switzerland - made explicit reference to non-lethal weapons during the General Debate, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whose statement was focusing on chemical incapacitants, was not allowed to address the plenary. As a result, the only opportunity to discuss these matters publicly arose with the Open Forum on the Chemical Weapons Convention, hosted by the TS and supported by a number of NGOs. The Open Forum included a panel discussion on The Chemical Weapons Ban and the Use of Incapacitants in Warfare and Law Enforcement. 80... 

See the website of the Sunshine Project for a documentation of the US non-lethal weapons programmes at www.sunshine-project.org. 

Introductory text for the 2nd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, which was organized by the Fraunhofer Institut Chemische Technologie on 13 and 14 May 2003 in Ettlingen, Germany available at http //www.ict.fhg.de/english/events/nlw.html, last accessed 31 August 2005. 

Since 1996 the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate of the US Marines coordinates the US efforts to develop new non-lethal weapons see http //www.jnlwd.usmc.mil/, last accessed 28 November 2003. For an assessment of programmes and proposals to streamline and redirect these see National Research Council of the National Academies An Assessment of Non-Lethal Weapons Science and Technology (Washington, DC The National Academies Press, 2003). 

M. R. Dando, Scientific and technological change and the future of the CWC The problem of non-lethal weapons, Disarmament Forum, 4, 2002, 33-44. 

---