The Legal Status of Mercenaries in Armed Conflict

Faculty of Law Ghent University

Academic Year 2015-2016

The Legal Status of Mercenaries in Armed Conflict

Master Thesis for the Study Program `Master of Law'

Submitted by

Petereyns Manuel

(Student number: 00803092)

Promotor: Prof. Dr. Ruys, Tom Commissioner: Ms. Anemoon Soete

1

"As non-linear battlefields and asymmetrical methods of warfare come to characterize more contemporary armed conflicts, the distinction between combatant and non-combatant has become increasingly blurred."

JK Wither, `European Security and Private Military Companies'

2

Acknowledgments

The topic of mercenaries (and Private Military Security Companies) in armed conflict is something that reached my attention 2 years ago. It was then when I first came into contact with the laws applicable during wartime, the so called laws of armed conflict. This course, lectured with great enthusiasm by Dr. Prof. An Cliquet, touched upon quite a few aspects of this area of international law. One part of this course focused on the sources and scope of the laws of armed conflict, which was also given as a guest lecture by the promotor of this master thesis, dr. Prof. Tom Ruys. It is during these courses that several hot topics were mentioned. One of them was the question of the legal regime of private military and security employees who are taking part in armed conflict. Having to pick a topic for my master thesis, I immediately knew which direction I wanted to go. But it wasn't until I encountered quite a few articles about atrocities committed by and against private military and security personnel that I knew this was a topic I wanted to delve deeper into. Thus, I began to read articles and books concerning these actors, not only with attention for the legal aspect of this industry, but also for its political and economic dimension. Pretty soon it became clear that the tasks these actors were executing were part of a billion-dollar industry with an ever increasing influence. Seeing reports of horrible crimes and the recurring question of how to apply international humanitarian law (hereafter IHL) in these cases made me delve deeper into this matter and examine whether one could speak of a legal vacuum. The research done for this master thesis has been quite a task, but the amount of knowledge gained for in return was immense. First of all, I'd like to thank Prof. Dr. Ruys for being my promotor and for accepting this topic as my research subject. Second of all, I'd like to thank him for always being willing to give advice and for giving great recommendations on sources of information. Thirdly, I would like to show my gratitude for the availability of the course `The Laws of Armed Conflict' which turned out to be my favorite course of the 5-year program of Master of Law at Ghent University. Lastly, I would like to thank my close relatives for supporting me in writing this thesis.

3

Table of contents

Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................3 List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................6 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................7 Chapter 1 ? `The legal status of Mercenaries in armed conflict': Research goal and conceptual framework.............................................................................................................9

Title 1. Research goal .........................................................................................................9 Title 2. Conceptual framework, methodology and delimitations of this research ......9

Section 1. Conceptual framework .................................................................................9 Section 2. Methodology ................................................................................................11 Section 3. Delimitations ................................................................................................11 Chapter 2 ? Background ......................................................................................................12 Title 1. Mercenaries and the rise of the PMS industry.................................................12 Section 1. Overview of traditional mercenarism .......................................................12 Section 2. Rise of the PMSC industry ........................................................................13 Section 3. Scope of PMSC services...........................................................................14 Title 2. Potential threats ? Arising questions .................................................................16 Chapter 3 - Mercenaries and PMSCs in International Law............................................19 Title 1. Mercenaries...........................................................................................................19 Section 1. Generic Meaning.........................................................................................19 Section 2. Defining mercenaries in International Law..............................................19 Section 3. Mercenary specific conventions ...............................................................25 Title 2. PMSCs ...................................................................................................................34 Section 1. PMSCs and mercenaries in international law ........................................34 Section 2. Legal instruments addressing mercenaries............................................34 Section 3. Applying mercenary requirements ...........................................................35 Section 4. International initiatives dealing with PMSCs...........................................41 Title 3. Conclusion.............................................................................................................52 Chapter 4 ? Applying key concepts of the laws of war ....................................................54 Title 1. Ius ad bellum.........................................................................................................54 Section 1. Modern source and principles...................................................................54 Section 2. The State monopoly on the use of violence ...........................................56 Section 3. Privatization and the legitimate authority principle ................................57 Title 2. Ius in bello or International Humanitarian Law.................................................59

4

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download