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( b ) Ensure that firearms are used only in appropriate circumstances and in a manner likely to
decrease the risk of unnecessary harm;
( c ) Prohibit the use of those firearms and ammunition that cause unwarranted injury or present an
unwarranted risk;
( d ) Regulate the control, storage and issuing of firearms, including procedures for ensuring that law
enforcement officials are accountable for the firearms and ammunition issued to them;
( e ) Provide for warnings to be given, if appropriate, when firearms are to be discharged;
( f ) Provide for a system of reporting whenever law enforcement officials use firearms in the
performance of their duty.
Policing unlawful assemblies
12. As everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the
principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, Governments and law enforcement agencies and officials shall recognize that
force and firearms may be used only in accordance with principles 13 and 14.
13. In the dispersal of assemblies that are unlawful but non-violent, law enforcement officials shall
avoid the use of force or, where that is not practicable, shall restrict such force to the minimum extent
necessary.
14. In the dispersal of violent assemblies, law enforcement officials may use firearms only when less
dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary. Law enforcement
officials shall not use firearms in such cases, except under the conditions stipulated in principle 9.
Policing persons in custody or detention
15. Law enforcement officials, in their relations with persons in custody or detention, shall not use
force, except when strictly necessary for the maintenance of security and order within the institution,
or when personal safety is threatened.
16. Law enforcement officials, in their relations with persons in custody or detention, shall not use
firearms, except in self-defence or in the defence of others against the immediate threat of death or
serious injury, or when strictly necessary to prevent the escape of a person in custody or detention
presenting the danger referred to in principle 9.
17. The preceding principles are without prejudice to the rights, duties and responsibilities of prison
officials, as set out in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, particularly rules
33, 34 and 54.
Qualifications, training and counselling
18. Governments and law enforcement agencies shall ensure that all law enforcement officials are
selected by proper screening procedures, have appropriate moral, psychological and physical qualities
for the effective exercise of their functions and receive continuous and thorough professional training.
Their continued fitness to perform these functions should be subject to periodic review.
19. Governments and law enforcement agencies shall ensure that all law enforcement officials are
provided with training and are tested in accordance with appropriate proficiency standards in the use
of force. Those law enforcement officials who are required to carry firearms should be authorized to do
so only upon completion of special training in their use.
20. In the training of law enforcement officials, Governments and law enforcement agencies shall give
special attention to issues of police ethics and human rights, especially in the investigative process, to
alternatives to the use of force and firearms, including the peaceful settlement of conflicts, the