Human Rights Obligations of Private Security and Military Companies: A Review of the Current Legal Framework and Practices

The rapid growth in demand for private military and security services among states,international organizations and non-state actors has turned this activity into a powerful industry withmillions of people who perform – on a contractual basis and in exchange for monetary rewards – actions,which, however, often pose risks to the rights of others, local communities and nations around theworld. The author explains the urgency of the article by high-profile cases of possible participationof private military companies in the events of the occupation of Crimea and the armed conflict inDonbas, initiation of new legislation on military consulting in Ukraine and, at the same time, by themodest attention of Ukrainian jurisprudence to human rights obligations of companies providingsecurity services as non-governmental entities. The author examines the evolution of some approaches to the international legal regulation of private military and security activities and their compliance with modern approaches to humanrights. The author analyzes the features of corporate responsibility in the field of human rights ofprivate military and security companies, the content of which is embodied in the InternationalCode of Conduct for Private Security Providers (ICoC). The analysis compares the approaches ofthe International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers and the UN Guiding Principleson Business and Human Rights.

Exploring hindrances for professionalising South African Private Security Industry: Experiences and recommendations

The professionalisation of the private security industry (PSI) can be beneficial and costly and these need to be measured against undertaking any professionalisation initiatives, since they can provide some degree of quality control to some businesses working in the field but can also impose hindrances and negative experiences to those wishing to enter the industry. The purpose of this study was to explore the following question: What are the experiences on hindrances to professionalisation of the PSI by Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority [PSiRA] in South Africa? Following a qualitative research approach, this study employed the exploratory research design. The judgemental sampling technique was adopted to select a sample of 40 participants from Gauteng (GP), KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Western Cape (WC) provinces. The findings highlighted that the majority of the participants agreed that the professionalisation of the PSI through PSiRA is facing many positive and negative experiences and hindrances, particularly in the private security training space where corruption and criminality are rife. This study recommends that, to overcome the noted hindrances, PSiRA needs to update the training curriculum, empower and train more inspectors and build relationships with industry stakeholders.

Public or private? Blurring the lines through YouTube recruitment of military veterans by private security companies

Private security companies (PSCs) blur the lines between the public and the private sector through the provision of services to state militaries. Based on a multi-modal qualitative content analysis of YouTube recruitment videos aimed at veterans, we show how PSCs also challenge these boundaries through their hiring practices. By relating to veterans’ past as hero warriors and by envisioning their future as corporate soldiers, the companies appear as ‘like-military’ and as allowing ex-militaries to ‘continue their mission’. The findings contribute to scholarly debates about the privatization of security. They illustrate that similarly to the public sector, the private is also re-constituted through the military values that veterans introduce. The study adds to the literature on the visualization of war showing how video-based platforms allow security actors such as PSCs to construct their corporate identity in ambivalent ways by appealing to different emotional levels and by giving rise to different narratives.