Private Military and Security Companies and Human Rights

2017 ◽  
pp. 83-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Security Companies

scholarly journals Human rights violations committed by private military and security companies: an international law analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Karska
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Security ◽  
International Community ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Private Security Industry ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Security Companies

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the growing phenomenon of the private military and security industry with respect to human rights obligations. In the first part, it will analyze the concept of a private security company, which is not clear in national regulations and has few relevant provisions in international conventions. The second part will contain a short description of examples of human rights violations committed by private military and security companies, or with their participation, during service delivery or other forms of activity. The third part of this paper discusses possible methods of responsibility enforcement, with respect to the transnational character of many private security companies involved in human rights violations worldwide. One of the most important elements of the discussion in international community should focus on binding international instrument, preferably a convention, which would be able to establish at least very elementary rules for states and international organizations, responsible for using private military and security companies. The international community has witnessed a lot of initiatives from non-governmental entities, also model laws and self-regulations of the private security industry, but still the real problem has not even been reduced. The number of human rights violations has grown. Keywords: Human rights. Private security companies. Liability.

States' Procedural Obligations Regarding Private Military and Security Companies' Activities

2017 ◽  
pp. 302-336
Author(s):  
Zafeiris Tsiftzis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Right ◽  
Security Companies

A lot of attention has been paid by the international community to the responsibility of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and to the prevention of human rights abuses committed their employees. The non-binding nature of the existing international initiatives with respect to PMSCs requests the human rights law to play a crucial role to the regulation of PMSCs and their employees during operations. This article examines the States' procedural obligation under international human rights law with regard to allegations of the right to life and the prohibition of torture. Moreover, it assesses the application of the jurisprudence of human rights bodies over the activities of PMSCs, whilst it focuses on the obligations of States to prevent and investigate human rights allegations committed by PMSCs' employees. Above all, this article advocates that human rights law has a significant role in the regulation of PMSCs and the prevention of the commission of human rights violations by PMSCs and their employees.

scholarly journals Beyond the Governance Gap: Accountability in Privatized Migration Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-505
Author(s):  
Daria Davitti
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Home State ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Security Companies

AbstractThis Article focuses on the accountability challenges raised by the increased involvement of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC) in migration control. I argue that migration control activities outsourced to PMSC can be classified as high-risk operations for the purposes of the application of relevant business and human rights standards. This reclassification of migration control activities as high-risk business operations, in turn, has two significant implications in terms of establishing accountability for PMSC’s wrongful conduct. First, it acknowledges that the privatization of migration control, especially within the context of continued containment and deterrence trends, entails a high risk of human rights abuses to which PMSC may contribute, both directly and indirectly. Second, this reclassification enables us to identify heightened obligations vested upon the home state of a PMSC, as well as the heightened responsibility of PMSC themselves. The article also examines what these heightened obligations and responsibilities entail.

Certifying Private Security Companies: Effectively Ensuring the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights?

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-77
Author(s):  
Sorcha MACLEOD ◽  
Rebecca DEWINTER-SCHMITT
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Management Standards ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Norm Compliance ◽  
Security Companies

AbstractThe key purpose of this article is to critically assess the extent to which auditing and certification to quality assurance and risk management standards containing human rights-related requirements are an adequate and effective means of ensuring that private security companies internalize their responsibility to respect human rights. Based on participant observation, interviews and publicly accessible data, it concludes that in the absence of the adoption of specific assurance measures in the certification and oversight processes, the constructivist ‘tipping point’ resulting in the internalization of the corporate responsibility to respect may not be attained when there is inadequate norm compliance or, worse yet, norm regression.

The Privatization of War: A New Challenge for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-188
Author(s):  
Marta Bautista Forcada ◽  
Cristina Hernández Lázaro
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Conflict Settings ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Iraq Wars ◽  
Security Companies

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have rapidly increased in size and rate of deployment since the 1991 Gulf War, notably during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars of 2001 and 2003 respectively. This growth of PMSCs in the last two decades has not been accompanied by an effective legal regulatory framework, and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda does not include any provisions related to the escalating threat that private contractors hired to provide military and security services in conflict settings pose to international peace and security and human rights. This chapter argues that UN institutions, scholars, advocates, and practitioners should incorporate the privatization of war as a new challenge within the WPS agenda, intending to plant a seed in touching upon different ways in which the privatization of war should be addressed in order to prevent gendered human rights violations in conflict scenarios.

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