Chapter

The ineffectiveness of the current definition of a "mercenary" in international humanitarian and criminal law

José L. Gómez del Prado

Public international law and human rights violations by private military and security companies

Cham : Springer, 2017

p. 59-81

English

Bibliographie : p. 78-81

The United Nations has defined the use of mercenaries “as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination.” In order to control this phenomenon, it adopted, in 1989, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. The turning of the century has seen private military and security companies (PMSCs) increasingly taking part in hostilities and armed conflicts. The UN Convention, as well as other international instruments adopted in the mid-twentieth century, have become obsolete to deal with the new forms of mercenarism. This article underscores the difficulties to apply the provisions contained in the definition of the 1989 Convention and emphasizes the need to adopt a new binding international instrument regulating private military and security companies.

• Full text (restricted access : ICRC)

• Public international law and human rights violations by private military and security companies / Helena Torroja, ed.