Public International Law and Human Rights Violations by Private Military and Security Companies

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introduction

   • Helena Torroja

   Pages 1-6

3. Afghanistan and Syria: Nonstate Actors and Their Negative Impact on Human Security

   • Mario Laborie

   Pages 7-29

4. Delimitation and Presence of PMSCs: Impact on Human Rights

   • Felipe Daza

   Pages 31-57

5. The Ineffectiveness of the Current Definition of a “Mercenary” in International Humanitarian and Criminal Law

   • José L. Gómez del Prado

   Pages 59-81

6. Private Military and Security Companies and Human Rights

   • Carlos Lopez

   Pages 83-103

7. International Soft Law Initiatives: The Opportunities and Limitations of the Montreux Document, ICoC, and Security Operations Management System Standards

   • Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt

   Pages 105-126

8. Ideas on the International Minimum Standard for the Privatization, Export, and Import of Armed Coercion

   • Helena Torroja

   Pages 127-153

9. Conclusions

   • Helena Torroja

   Pages 155-158

This book explores the human rights consequences of the new mercenarism, as channeled through so-called private military and security companies (PMSCs), and offers an overview of the evolution and status quo of both non-legal (soft law and self-regulation) and legal initiatives seeking to limit them. It addresses various topics, including the impact of the presence of non-state actors on human security using the cases of Afghanistan and Syria; research on PMSCs’ impact on human rights in specific cases; the insufficiency and ineffectiveness of existing direct and indirect legal prohibitions on the use of mercenaries; various aspects of international human rights law and international humanitarian law related to the conduct of PMSCs; soft-law and self-regulation mechanisms; and the international minimum standard in general international law regarding the privatization, export, import, and contracting of PMSCs. 

• Human rights violations
• New mercenarism
• Private military and security companies
• PMSCs
• International legal initiatives
• Self-regulation

• Law School, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

  Helena Torroja

Helena Torroja, University of Barcelona, Law School, Barcelona, Spain