Stop Rubber Bullets. The use of kinetic energy projectiles and torture in the Spanish State.

Abstract

Rubber bullets are projectiles whose use is potentially lethal. Between 1976 and 2017, they have caused at least 23 deaths and dozens of injuries in Spain, many of them serious, with loss of sight being the main type. In the period 2000 - 2020 alone, more than 40 people have been affected. We review the legal framework, human impacts that go far beyond statistics and medical and psychosocial approaches. The paper focuses on key learnings in survivors' organisation, the process towards the prohibition of these weapons and strategic litigation, forensic documenta-tion and political advocacy.