109Received 16.09.2020.
Acknowledgments. The article was supported by a grant from the International Studies Institute at MGIMO University, (Project No. 1921-01-07): “New Forms of Strategic Competition of the Great Political Powers in the 21st Century” as part of the “Analysis and Forecasting the Evolution of International Relations in the Context of a Changing Technology” project.
Abstract. The article examines the preconditions for the development of a UN convention on Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), and raises the question of the actors interested in creating such a document. It seeks to explain why the convention remained at the draft level, through the prism of contradictions associated with the development of international legal norms in relation to the known phenomenon of mercenarism, and in relation to new militarysecurity structures. The present text is devoted to the analysis of the problems in determining PMSCs’ status and in separating them from such illegal actors as mercenaries, as well as to studying the difficulties associated with the promotion of the UN International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies, that arise in the scientific community and within the UN itself. In addition, the article touches upon the problem of privatization of international law and discusses intentions of private military and security industry to privatize specific issues of PMSCs’ regulation. It emphasizes the role of non-state actors that seek ways to participate in and influence the process of international conventional regulation. On the one hand, international legal binding mechanisms aimed at regulation of PMSCs are nagging. On the other hand, current legal norms are imperfect and seem to be inappropriate for the regulation of the fast growing and evolving phenomenon – PMSCs. The combination of states’ and non-state actors’ interests at the international level challenges the system of current conventional mechanisms. Besides, numerous approaches to the identification of the range of inherent governmental functions in military sphere vary from one state to another. Similarly, some PMSCs do not see any conflict with their unclear legal status while others seek ways to come out from the shadows of obscurity and clarify their status within the international law. The article tries to unveil a range of different problems in private security sphere and explain both the complexity of private military and security industry, the ambiguous approaches towards regulation of PMSCs and the challenges the international law faces with the emergence of new non-state military and security phenomenon.
Keywords: non-state actors, private military and security companies (PMSCs), mercenaries, UN, armed conflicts, private functions in security sphere, international law regulation, privatization of law
REFERENCES
1. Draft International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies. July 13, 2009. Available at: https://mgimo.ru/files/121626/draft.pdf (accessed 25.07.2020).
2. Entin M.L., Entina E.G. Obratno v yuridicheskoe srednevekov’e? [Back to The Middle Age Law?]. Journal of Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law, 2018, no. 2 (69), cc. 35-43.
3. International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. November 9, 2010. Available at: https://studylib.net/doc/14926477/international-code-of-conduct-for-private-security-service (accessed 27.07.2020).
4. Gumedze S. Pouring old wine into new bottles? The debate around mercenaries and private military and security companies. Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa: A Need for a New Continental Approach. Gumedze S., ed. Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Monograph series, 2008, no. 147, pp. 21-44. Available at: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/103672/MONO147FULL.pdf (accessed 27.07.2020).
5. Savas’kov P.V., Safranchuk I.A. Novye aspekty voennoi bezopasnosti: Piratstvo i chastnye voennye (silovye) kompanii [New Aspects of Military Security: Piracy and Private Military (Security) Companies]. Sovremennye mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. Uchebnik MGIMO (U) MID RF [Modern International Relations. Tutorial of MGIMO (U) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation]. Torkunov A.V., Mal’gin A.V., eds. Moscow, ASPEKT PRESS, 2012. pp. 519-537.
6. Lumina C. Counting the cost: the impact of corporate warfare on the human rights of women and children in Africa. Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa: A Need for a New Continental Approach. Gumedze S., ed. Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Monograph series, 2008, no. 147, pp. 101-120. Available at: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/103672/MONO147FULL.pdf (accessed 27.07.2020).
7. Syrkhaev A. Privatizatsiya voiny v SShA [Privatization of War in USA]. Istoriya gosudarstva i prava, 2012, no. 16, pp. 46-48.
8. Coady C.A.J. Mercenary Morality. International Law and Armed Conflict. Conference Proceedings. ARSP. Beiheft, no. 46. Bradney A.G.D., ed. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992, pp. 55-71.
9. Mandel R. Armies Without States: the Privatization of Security. London, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002. 169 p.
10. Fallah K. Corporate Actors: the Legal Status of Mercenaries in Armed Conflict. International Review of the Red Cross, 2006, vol. 88, no. 863, pp. 599-611.
11. Shearer D. Outsourcing War. Foreign Policy, 1998. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/1998/09/15/outsourcing-war/ (accessed 27.07.2020).
12. Ndlovu-Gatsheni J.S., Dzinesa A.G. One man’s volunteer is another man’s mercenary? Mapping the extent of mercenarism and its impact on human security in Africa. Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa: A Need for a New Continental Approach. Gumedze S., ed. Institute for Security Studies (ISS). Monograph series, 2008, no. 147, pp. 75-91. Available at: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/103672/MONO147FULL.pdf (accessed 27.07.2020).
13. Schwartz M. The Department of Defense’s Use of Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq: Background, Analysis, and Options for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Report for Congress. May 2011. 23 p. Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40835.pdf (accessed 27.07.2020).
14. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I). June 8, 1977. Available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/icrc_002_0321.pdf (accessed 25.07.2020).
15. The Organization of African Unity Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa. July 3, 1977. Available at: https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/37287-treaty-0009_-_oau_convention_for_the_elimination_of_mercenarism_in_africa_e.pdf (accessed 25.07.2020).
16. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. December 16, 1966. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx (accessed 27.07.2020).
17. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. December 16, 1966. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx (accessed 27.07.2020).
18. The UN International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. December 4, 1989. Available at: https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/icruftm/icruftm.html (accessed 25.07.2020).
19. Report submitted by Mr. Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, Special Rapporteur. The right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation. Use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. United Nations. Economic and Social Council. Doc. UN E/CN.4/2004/15. December 24, 2003. 21 p. Available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=105 (accessed 27.07.2020).
20. Fact Sheet no. 28. The Impact of Mercenary Activities on the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination. UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). March 2002. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/479477460.html (accessed 27.07.2020).
21. Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly 54/151 on the report of the Third Committee (A/54/604). Use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. United Nations. General Assembly. Doc. UN A/RES/54/151. February 29, 2000. 3 p. Available at: https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/RES/54/151 (accessed 27.07.2020).
22. Human Rights Resolution 2005/2: The Use of Mercenaries as a Means of Violating Human Rights and Impeding the Exercise of the Right of Peoples to Self-determination, UN Commission on Human Rights. Doc. UN E/CN.4/RES/2005/2. April 7, 2005. 6 p. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/45377c39c.html (accessed 27.07.2020).
23. Note by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation. United Nations. Economic and Social Council. Doc. UN E/CN.4/2005/23. January 18, 2005. 26 p. Available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/alldocs.aspx?doc_id=10740 (accessed 27.07.2020).
24. Badell-Sanchez D. The Age of Outsourcing: UN Peacekeeping Operations. Peacekeeping: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Impacts. Fernandez Sanchez P.A., ed., New York, Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2018, pp. 125-138.
25. Nebol’sina M.A. Sotrudnichestvo OON s ChVOK v mirotvorcheskikh missiyakh i v operatsiyakh po postkonfliktnomu vosstanovleniyu [Cooperation of the UN with PMSCs in peacekeeping missions and post-conflict reconstruction]. Diskurs, politika, upravlenie. Materialy IX Konventa RAMI [Discourse, politics, management. Proceedings of the IX RAMI Convention]. Mal’gin A.V., ed. Moscow, MGIMO-University, 2016, pp. 17-27.
26. Transforming Wartime Contracting. Controlling Costs, Reducing Risks. Final Report to Congress, August 2011. 248 p. Available at: https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=685405 (accessed 27.07.2020).
27. Schahill J. Blackwater. The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. New York, Nation books, 2008. 480 p.
28. Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council 15/26. Open-ended intergovernmental working group to consider the possibility of elaborating an international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies. United Nations. Human Rights Council. Doc. UN A/HRC/RES/15/26. October 7, 2010. 2 p. Available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/15/26 (accessed 07.07.2020).
29. Korol’kova E.E. Mezhdunarodno-pravovoe regulirovanie deyatel’nosti chastnykh voennykh i okhrannykh kompanii. Diss. kand. yur. nauk [International Legal Regulation of Private Military and Security Companies. Cand. Diss. (Juridical Sciences)]. Moscow, 2019. 217 p.
30. Report of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to consider the possibility of elaborating an international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies on its sixth session. A/HRC/36/36. August 4, 2017. 9 p. Available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/36/36 (accessed 27.07.2020).
31. Resolution Adopted by the Security Council 1540 (2004). United Nations. Security Council. Doc. UN S/RES/1540 (2004). April 28, 2004. 4 p. Available at: https://undocs.org/S/RES/1540(2004) (accessed 27.07.2020).
32. Progress report of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, to protect human rights and ensure accountability for violations and abuses relating to the activities of private military and security companies on its first session. A/HRC/42/36. July 16, 2019. 15 p. Available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/42/36 (accessed 27.07.2020).
33. Remarks by Gabor Rona. UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries, Montreux +5 Conference, December 11–13, 2013. Available at: https://newsarchive.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14105&LangID=E (accessed 27.07.2020).
Registered in System SCIENCE INDEX
No comments