A/HRC/42/20 Their Families has also expressed its concern at the use of physical violence by immigration officials and guards against unaccompanied minor children. 13 8. Acts of sexual and gender-based violence committed by staff of detention facilities continue to be a cause of concern14 and their widespread prevalence has been highlighted by the Committee against Torture both in criminal detention and in immigration detention settings.15 The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has also described custodial rape as constituting torture. 16 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has repeatedly denounced gender-based violence, including sexual harassment and assaults against female prisoners by male penitentiary staff and police officers.17 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons are also more vulnerable to ill-treatment in detention. Sexual violence may also be used against male detainees in order to punish, humiliate and assert control over them.18 Children who are arrested or detained are also victims of sexual violence. 19 2. Use of force 9. The use of force by law enforcement and prison officials, including cases in which it is excessive, constitutes an important cause of death and serious injury for persons deprived of their liberty. Lethal force used in order to regain control of a detention facility in which a riot is taking place may result in death and serious injury. Over the past few years, several of these operations have resulted in the killing of several dozen detainees and some have been the object of allegations of extrajudicial executions of detainees by the security forces.20 Use of force also covers resorting to less-lethal weapons, including chemicals; as well as instruments of restraint and restraint positions. Persons deprived of their liberty may also be injured as a result of excessive use of force involving less-lethal weapons such as batons, electroshock weapons, baton rounds and tear gas, in the quelling of demonstrations inside detention facilities.21 The use of chemical irritants, such as tear gas and pepper spray, in detention facilities to quell riots and to subdue detainees deemed uncooperative also leads to serious injury and in some cases appears to be a contributing factor in the death of persons deprived of their liberty.22 The Committee against Torture expressed concerns about the use of chemical irritants in closed spaces and stated that such use endangers the lives of inmates.23 10. The use of restraints and restraint positions has also resulted in the injury or death of persons deprived of their liberty with some studies indicating that restraint had been used by police officers in 25 per cent of cases of death in police custody and established as the cause of death in 10 per cent of the cases. 24 Restraint positions, in which detained persons are pinned face down or held in prone positions, have led to a number of deaths. 25 Human 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 See CMW/C/IDN/CO/1. See CAT/C/TKM/CO/2. See CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5. See A/63/175. See CEDAW/C/MNE/CO/2; CEDAW/C/ARG/CO/7; CEDAW/C/GMB/CO/4-5; CEDAW/C/PNG/CO/3; CEDAW/C/ERI/CO/5. Submission of the Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal (Mexico). See CRC/C/BRA/CO/2-4; CCPR/C/LKA/CO/5. See A/HRC/11/2/Add.2; United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti and OHCHR, “Bi-annual report on human rights in Haiti: January–June 2012”, para. 26; OHCHR, Human Rights Violations in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: a Downward Spiral with No End in Sight (2018), p. 20. See www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2005/1/41ee7bdb4/unhcr-says-maltese-troops-seemed-use-excessiveforce-quell-peaceful-demo.html; CRC/C/MLT/CO/2. See OHCHR, “Press briefing notes on Gambia and Australia”, 29 July 2016; Canada, Office of the Correctional Investigator, “Fatal response: an investigation into the preventable death of Matthew Ryan Hines – final report”, 15 February 2017. See CAT/C/CZE/CO/4-5; CAT/C/BHR/CO/2-3. See United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Giles Lindon and Stephen Roe for the Home Office, Deaths in Police Custody: A Review of the International Evidence, Research Report 95 (London, 2017). Submission of the Castan Centre.