Private Military and Security Companies
Private Military and Security Companies
An old-new phenomenon
The existence of specialised personnel, hired to provide military services, is anything but a new phenomenon. Dating back to the middle ages, hiring and relying on the use of mercenaries represented a common practice and has since then become a constant feature in the history of armed conflict, whilst the modern age has seen the different trend of attempting to firstly regulate and progressively prohibit mercenary activity. Thus, provisions on the use of mercenaries are found in many international conventions, in particular in Article 47 of the First Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention of 19491 and the United Nations International Convention against the
Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries adopted at the General Assembly’s fortyforth session in 1989 and entered into force in 20012.
However, in recent years, there has been the emergence of highly professional companies which openly offer a wide range of services but at the same time distancing themselves from the notion of mercenary.
Such companies, defined as private military companies (or “PMCs”) are businesses that offer a wide range of specialised services, from assistance in combat operations, intelligence collection, operational and logistical support, services to train or back-up official armed forces and to enhance their effectiveness, often reinforcing already existing local structures. Thus the services and expertise offered by PMCs are similar to those of governmental military or police forces, as many companies can rank amongst their staff highly professionalised and experienced personnel, usually former army soldiers and officers, thereof, already trained to perform offensive and defensive actions.
Notably Peter Singer3 divides PMCs into three ‘‘business sectors’’:
military provider firms supplying ‘‘direct, tactical military assistance’’ that can include serving in front-line combat;
military consulting
An old-new phenomenon
The existence of specialised personnel, hired to provide military services, is anything but a new phenomenon. Dating back to the middle ages, hiring and relying on the use of mercenaries represented a common practice and has since then become a constant feature in the history of armed conflict, whilst the modern age has seen the different trend of attempting to firstly regulate and progressively prohibit mercenary activity. Thus, provisions on the use of mercenaries are found in many international conventions, in particular in Article 47 of the First Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention of 19491 and the United Nations International Convention against the
Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries adopted at the General Assembly’s fortyforth session in 1989 and entered into force in 20012.
However, in recent years, there has been the emergence of highly professional companies which openly offer a wide range of services but at the same time distancing themselves from the notion of mercenary.
Such companies, defined as private military companies (or “PMCs”) are businesses that offer a wide range of specialised services, from assistance in combat operations, intelligence collection, operational and logistical support, services to train or back-up official armed forces and to enhance their effectiveness, often reinforcing already existing local structures. Thus the services and expertise offered by PMCs are similar to those of governmental military or police forces, as many companies can rank amongst their staff highly professionalised and experienced personnel, usually former army soldiers and officers, thereof, already trained to perform offensive and defensive actions.
Notably Peter Singer3 divides PMCs into three ‘‘business sectors’’:
military provider firms supplying ‘‘direct, tactical military assistance’’ that can include serving in front-line combat;
military consulting