Lethal Force Monitor
2020
31 PP.
The abuse of lethal force by the State’s public security agents –both police and military– is a problem in many Latin American countries. Frequently, the use of lethal force is presented as the inevitable downside of security. However, despite the significant number of people killed by the State, the vast majority of cases of use of lethal force are not investigated on the presumption that they occurred in a context that makes them legitimate. As a result, there is no accountability, responsibility, or incentive to curb the excessive use of lethal force. In several countries, however, human rights reports pointto the existence of abuses of lethal force or extrajudicial executions by police and military officials.
According to international standards (the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, and the United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions –known as the Minnesota Protocol–), lethal force must only be used exceptionally. Furthermore, this use must always be carried out with due respect for human rights and the principles of legality, necessity, moderation and proportionality.
The abusive use of lethal force has numerous negative effects, beyond and in addition to the victims it leaves behind. To start with, it hurts the image of security institutions –and of the State in general– and can bring about increased violence. For police and military officials, the abuse of lethal force can increase risks by encouraging dynamics of greater violence against their ranks.
This document shows the results of research on the use and abuse of lethal force in five Latin American countries: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela. For this purpose, the authors discussed, defined and developed a set of indicators to measure the use and abuse of lethal force. The objective was to build a shared methodology for monitoring the use and abuse of lethal force in the region, which could potentially be extended to other regions of the world. This document constitutes a first attempt to build tools that enable comparisons between different countries and institutions.
The current text is divided into four sections. The first explains the definitions used and the way the indicators are calculated. The following section has a chapter for each of the countries under study: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela. Each of the national chapters includes specific information on the construction of indicators in that country and their results. In addition, they offer information about regulations and the particular context for the use of force, as well as specific recommendations for the country. The third section presents a comparative regional analysis of the countries included in the study, and the final section includes a series of general recommendations.
