Forum:

Issue:

GA4
The Question of the use of Mercenaries and Private Security Companies in
Areas of Conflict

Student Officer: Tareq Ali Al Hammadi

Position:

Deputy Chair

Introduction
In the entire history, mercenaries have played a very important role in conflict (Alexandra 163).
Even though the United Nations and its individual member states have succeeded in the putting up of
international treaties, which diminish a states ability to wage a high intensity conflict, trials and efforts to
do away with mercenaries have been successful to their intended purpose. The worldwide
phenomenon may not be the involvement of the private military and security but it has seen a large
growth in conflict involvements (Andrew, Dean-peter and Marina 200). The military and the security
business organizations that provide substantial power have become the current recreation of long
lineage. The use of mercenaries had long disappeared in the 19th century and 20th century came to be
seen again from 1960s during the period of decolonization and it mainly worked in countries in Africa
and Asia. The private companies move large quantities of weapons and military equipments to the
areas off conflict (Clapham 53).
Some nations are arguing that mercenaries should be prohibited outright while at the same time
some nations are contending that under international law the mercenaries should not receive any
differential treatment. Armed forces operations provided by this services operations whereas to do a
submissive or a self defensive protection it takes in the people who had served in the forces before as
civilians however they cannot be considered as such civilians for they often have with them the fighting
weapons as well as destructing weapons that are harmful to the human health, and take all other
essential functions of an army (Kinsey 4). By the fact that some are always armed, they can change
role from defensive to offensive role and can commit violations on human rights and even possibly the

government can be destabilized by the armed men. The international humanitarian cannot hire them to
keep peace for the reason that the organizations are not documented by the army or in the sequence of
command and often feel right to different nationalities and constitute of large figure. A risk is always
created to the civilians as well as to the international laws that govern the human rights by the private
military and security and hence the companies always work in a legal space (Lilly and Damian 3).
The United States working group on the use of mercenaries has been entrusted by the United
States council on privileges of humans, principally and with the mandate to study and monitor the
effects of activities of the private organizations offering security assistance, military support and
consultancy on the worldwide market on the enjoyment of constitutional rights of humans and to put in
order a draft that contains fundamental ideology which egg on reverence for human civil liberties for the
activities of the organizations that are owned by individuals in the global. The private military seems to
be predominated by monetary gain rather than ideological or patriotic allegiance. Military and security
that are owned by individuals more and more have taken from the traditional activities of mercenaries
which have not wholly moved out (Lindsey and Vincent 50). Also being blurred is the activities of
humanitarian non profiting organizations and those of military and security transnational companies
working for pecuniary gain. Private military and security more often provides security and protection for
the compassionate nongovernmental organizations in conflict or post conflict where it has turn out to be
very complex for the inhabitants to make a distinction of people and those that are charitable risks
happen to be connected with the superseding the forces that are carrying weapons represented by the
private military and security guards (Lindsey and Vincent 50). The private military and security always
in an area of conflict occupy areas where the army is not fully deployed or in a post conflict area and
situation associated with high level of insecurity. They also occupy any armed conflict where the
international organizations do not intervene and mostly in troubled areas mostly in the developing
countries where there is no presence of state and there is operation of extractive transnational
corporation (Petersohn 40).
Being a Mercenary has become an international crime under the emergence of the international
law of criminals. Building an operational group on the decision on the use of mercenaries, the United
States commission on human rights is fully convinced that in spite of the usage or the forms in which
mercenaries or mercenary related activities take to acquire some resemblance of legitimacy, they are a
threat to peace and security and the self determination of the peoples and also they stand as an
obstacle to the enjoyment of the human right of the peoples (Deborah and Sigelman 20). Private
military and security always operates with limited effective oversight from the state organs and outside
government control. They are not usually brought before court of justice or even sanctioned when

involved in crimes or human rights violation as seen in the shooting against civilians in Iraq. There is
however no instrument internationally which can regulate and monitor the activities of these private
companies of military and security. Mercenaries are as old as war itself and it is widely accepted that
these mercenaries pose a direct threat to the stability of any nation in which they are operating in an
adequate legislation is yet to be ratified and hence to be put into practice (Simon and Chia 97).

Definition of Key Terms

Mercenary
Is a person in any other situation, who is locally or abroad and is specially recruited for the
purpose of concerted acts of violence, expected to;
a) Undermine the constitutional order of a state or otherwise overthrow a government
b) Undermine state integrity
Combatant
Is a person who takes a very direct part in the participation of hostilities of an armed conflict.
Law that governs war
This is an officially authorized expression of ability which is directed to the characteristic of
worldwide decree that are to the apprehension of up to standard and good reason to be engaged in
disagreement and restrictions in a tolerable period of war. It addresses declaration of conflict,
acceptance of surrender, and how prisoners of war will be treated and the prohibition of certain
weapons that may be in a position to cause unnecessary suffering when put into use
Prisoner of war
Is someone who is whether a combatant or a non combatant,who is put into custody by an
individual,group or country that acts in a manner that is hostile and has power during or immediately
after an armed conflict has occurred.
Militia
Is a fighting compel or generally an army made up of battalion who are not practiced or rather a
subject state or government that which is used and engaged in a situation of battle much opposed to

regular and timely military personnel.

Background Information
The use of private armies in opposition to countrywide liberty movements to fight for
independence in the colonial territories was there until 1960s when it was declared an act which is
unlawful by the United States universal assembly resolution 2465 and hence it voted unrecognized
soldiers as outlaws (Thomas and Gerhard 25). After the cold war the most notorious of private military
companies that developed was an executive outcome and the executive outcome played an important
role in Africa in conflicts in 1990s. With their extensive military experience and connections the private
military companies have become so much familiar defensive alternatives for not only failing the
government and insurgent groups but also to the western government which have cut their defense
expenditure and curtained their international commitments in the recent years and though it poses
serious ethical and regulatory difficulties for the international communities, the private security and
military business growth has been stunning. The strictness on legal control of the activities of
mercenaries varies massively across the world as defining the legality of mercenaries falls under
jurisdiction of individual state governments as set by the International Convention against the
recruitment, use, financing, and training of mercenaries in 1989 and has not been ratified. The private
military company may prove to be a very dangerous variation on traditional mercenary practices where
they are active combats in a conflict and are subject to even fewer restraints than traditional
mercenaries given the fact that their services are rarely judged to be the same as of criminal nature
(Venturini and Ronzitti 25).

In a resolution creating the working group on the use of mercenaries, the United Nations on
human rights requests the working group to put into account the fact that mercenary activities continue
in many parts of the world and that they are taking on new forms modalities as well as manifestations.
The working group needs its members in this view more concretely among other things to elaborate
and present any possible new standards or basic principles encouraging the protection of human rights
more and especially the right of the people to self determination while facing current and emergent
threats that are posed to them by mercenaries and mercenary related activities and should also monitor
mercenaries and mercenary activities in all of their forms and manifestations in the different parts of the
world (Berndsson 39).

Customary Law and the United Nations

Legal laws adopted at the end of the 19th century are the source of the legal measures to fight
mercenary activities regarding the obligation to respect neutrality which was codified in the Hague
convention of1908 which concerns the rights and duties of neutral powers and persons in the conflict
that attaches the land. The concept of aggregation and the principle of no intervention have been
closely linked to mercenaries and related mercenary activities from the outset under the international
law while the principle of neutrality applies to both internal and the international armed conflicts hence
with adoption of convention concerning the duties and rights of state in the event of civil strife in 1928 a
number of obligations were established. Due to the recognition of the peoples rights to self
determination, the attitude of the international community towards mercenaries and mercenary related
activities changed with the creation of United Nations in 1948 whose main purpose and charter is
based on the principle of equality and self determination among peoples to develop a friendly relation
among nations and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace (Tonkin 297).
International Humanitarian Law Instruments
International humanitarian law instruments overwhelming concern is to provide security in
conflicts that are associated with arms including legal protection and it is rare for the convention to
sideline certain categories of actor and the international humanitarian laws approach to mercenaries is
controversial in such reverence. There is a first and foremost figurative significance to the extent that
they are accorded fewer protections than combatants and the mercenaries is the subject of particular
awareness. The instruments of international law do little to clarify legal consequences to mercenary
status while there are difficulties with the conventional definition of mercenary. Individuals who are
considered to be mercenaries for the purpose of additional protocol 1 are afforded certain protections
by the international humanitarian law when considering of the consequences of mercenary.

Major Countries and Organizations Involved

United Kingdom
The government primarily tried to control the private companies that provided security which
outsourced their forces oversees due to the discovery of personal owned armed forces from British that
had taken weapons to Sierra Leone in 2002 contravening a United States ban. The government was

requested to elaborate on the green paper by the foreign affairs committee of the House of Commons
which outlines options for regulations of private military and security companies which operate outside
the United Kingdom, its dependencies and the British island as a whole. The green paper pointed out
six options which included the citation of the advantages and disadvantages as well:
(a) It states a ban on military activity abroad:since services provided by the private military
companies are an intrinsic part of the export sales thus this would not only be difficult to put into
effect but could also be a hindrance with individual liberty and could to some extent deprive British
defense exporters of legitimate business
(b)Italso cites the ban on recruitment for military activity abroad:this would not prevent a company
which had recruited personnel for one specific conflict to transfer it to any other area but it could
address the recruitment of freelance contractors employed issue and companies could evade
such regulation by advertise through the internet and using an offshore location;
(c) There will be a licensing regime for military serviceswhich require companies to obtain a valid
license for contracts for military and security services abroad. This could create difficulties with
enforcement and changing circumstances since the license was issued thus the commercial
confidentiality for the companies and evasion for companies not accepting the licensing system
would move their operations offshore;
(d) The encouraging of Registration and notification a license would be without human
intervention granted or withhold by the government for a specific contract
(e) A general license for PMCs/PSCs: the company itself could get a license or a number of
activities by the government hence without the government knowing the operations and activities
carried out by the companies. This could award credibility to companies;
(f) There is also Self regulation: a conduct of conflict which is voluntary and couldintegrate much
respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and war laws, independence, respect,
transparency and could lead to private companies possibly contravening the interest of foreign
policies situations of the British government.
Iraq
The Ministry of Interior (MOI), under the laws of Iraq has a directive to register all PMSCs in
service within Iraq and the steps which address issues that include vetting, insurance, and to verify the
offices and personnel, and military hardware and vehicles register is what amount to the licensing

process. PMC employees are prohibited from involving in law enforcement activities by Section 9 of
CPA Memo 17 but, section 5 of Annex A of this memo permits that PMSC employees can stop, detain,
search, and even disarm civilians where there is requirement of the employees safety or if the contract
specifies such functions. Employees are also prohibited from joining coalitions or rather multinational
forces in combat operation with an exemption of whenever self-defense is required order of persons but
just as specified in the contract. Administrators of the coalition provisional authority signed an order
which stipulates that private contractors cannot be judged by the Iraqi courts and in more particular the
private security guards who are operating in the state and hence that provided immunity for possible
human rights violation and offences that they may commit.
Afghanistan
Hard work to set up rule that can control as well as keep an eye on PMCS operations in the
country is being deployed by the administration. The Afghan constitution, which grants the monopoly of
the use of force to the state only was in conflict with early versions of the draft PMCS law and hence
was rejected by the Supreme Court. Monitoring and evaluation commissions of private security
companies have been initiated with temporary regulation to which the PMCs have been requested to
submit the information.
Sierra Leone
The national security and central intelligence act was enacted by the parliament in 2012 which
included a control and licensing of private security companies section. The act is not supported by any
specific regulations and there are no clear criteria for these assessments. However, arms and
ammunitions that are appropriate to such security forces may be imported only to prior approval of the
government and such arms and ammunitions may be used by the security for carrying out its functions.
Foreign firms should put forward their human resources straightforwardly to the employment ministry as
a requirement where the ministry should in turn give out a team of applicants who are appropriate.
Commonwealth of Independent States
Model lawin relation with measures has been approved by the commonwealth independent
states that comprise of twelve states at the regional level, which must be taken to fight use of
mercenary and mercenary activities. Model law explains broadly mercenaries and the offences have a
merit to integrate the convention of international new definitions that can be committed. Destabilization
of legitimate governments, terrorism, trafficking in persons, in drugs and arms and any other illicit
trafficking, sabotage, selective assassination, transnational organized crime, forcible control of valuable

natural resources and unlawful possession of nuclear or bacteriological materials are among the
offences that are contemplated in the model law. The model law has to be rectified and integrated into
respective domestic legislation of the twelve countries of the CIS and six of the twelve have moved
further to becoming members of collective security treaty organization in fight against terrorism.

Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issueand possible solutions

The new law evolution of neutrality prohibited the use of force which led to a UN treaty in 1989.
The International Convention against the Financing, Recruitment and Working out of Mercenaries
which was drafted due to the expansion of mercenary activities in post-Colonial Africa in 1960s
and1970s and aimed mainly on the protection of the state from the unlawful use and threat of force
against the territorial integrity and to consolidate the principles of neutrality. There should be a
prohibition on any direct participation in conflict. There should also be an amendment of the War Act,
the United Nations Act, the Terrorist Act, the Air Aviation Act, the Customs and Excise Act, the Asylum
and Immigration Act and should be consistent with the Human Rights Act (1998).

Relevant UN Treaties

United Nations Mercenary Convention, 20th October2001

Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons 25 December 2003

African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, January 25, 2004

Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949

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