(Im)Polite People: Private Military Companies and International Humanitarian Law

(Im)Polite People: Private Military Companies and International Humanitarian Law

Introduction

They were in the former Yugoslavia^{^[1]} and in the current Ukraine, in Libya and Syria, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mozambique. ^{^[2]} Somewhere they are invited and welcomed, ^{^[3]} somewhere not so much. Allegedly, in the places where they are purposefully contracted to fight insurgents and terrorists, they are not very effective in doing so. ^{^[4]} Some of the domestic rationales behind their formation are said to be putting ‘“good for nothing people” to good use’ and distrust towards the regular army officials. ^{^[5]} They are private military companies or PMCs.

Leaving aside the ethical and political sides of the issue, the spread of PMCs poses many legal questions for which the international humanitarian law (IHL) does not always give straightforward answers. When the main IHL conventions were drafted in the 19th and 20th centuries the PMCs were not their main concern. ^{^[6]} As a result, it is still unclear whether they should be regarded as combatants and enjoy the privileges of “prisoner of war” status or, on the contrary, should be prosecuted for crimes according to the national law. ^{^[7]} Are they mercenaries^{^[8]} or unlawful (or, better put, “unprivileged”)^{^[9]} combatants? The answer is also not very evident and often depends on the context of the PMCs’ activities.

In this paper we attempt to analyze the issue of private military companies from the point of view of international humanitarian law and provide the description of the two positions concerning the PMCs in this field. The next section discusses the arguments for the unlawful status of PMCs and the prohibition of their activity. In the third chapter we analyze the opposite position which supports the legalization of PMCs. The final part concludes.

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