CAAT Issues - Corporate Mercenaries

Corporate Mercenaries

Mercenaries have been around almost as long as war itself. What is new, however, is the emergence of the "corporate mercenary" companies, which employ ex-military personnel and others and then sell their services to governments, mining companies, relief organisations and others. The corporate mercenary companies are often refered to as private military and security companies, or PMSCs.

The issue came to prominence in the 1998 Arms to Sierra Leone affair when UK company Sandline International was alleged to have broken a UN arms embargo by providing forces of the exiled government of Sierra Leone with 28 tonnes of small arms from Bulgaria. The founder of Sandline, Colonel Tim Spicer, moved on to form a new company, Aegis Defence Services, which in 2004 was awarded a $293million contract by the Pentagon to 'coordinate' the 50-odd security companies now operating in Iraq.

Though no one knows the numbers for certain, "private security operators" are the second biggest force in Iraq after US military personnel, far greater in number than UK forces. Officially the roles of such operators are confined to protecting key sites and individuals, and military training, but increasingly they have been sucked into combat roles and it is alleged that they also do the 'dirtiest' kind of work in the interrogation centres.

The upper ranks of the companies are often filled with recently serving officers in the US and UK armies, who get up to five times as much money in their new positions as they had working for their governments. Overall, however, the companies are cheap, because most of their staff come from Iraq or from poor countries like Nepal and Fiji and are willing to serve for a fraction of a UK soldier's pay. The growth in private military and security companies is not confined to Iraq. Others work in Afghanistan and many other countries around the globe.
An employee of US mercenary firm Blackwater on duty in Iraq

An employee of US mercenary firm Blackwater on duty in Iraq.

Employees of the corporate mercenary companies are not subject to military law; in fact it is unclear whether they are subject to any law at all. In 2002, the UK government produced a Green, or consultative, Paper with options for the regulation of the burgeoning industry.

After a flurry of activity, and a report by the Foreign Affairs Committee, the issue disappeared from the political agenda until 2005 when then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw MP, asked officials to review the options. This review considered ways forward including self-regulation, national regulation along the lines of arms export controls and / or licensing systems for companies and personnel.

After that, whilst the need for regulation did not go away, the Government went quiet. However, at the same time and as the corporate mercenary companies played an ever greater role, even the trade organisation, the British Association of Private Security Companies called for regulation.

The Government now seems to have given up, having failed to find a common approach acceptable to all the Departments involved. On 15th May 2008, Foreign Office Minister Meg Munn MP told the Commons that there were difficulties with respect to implementation or enforcement with every option considered; additionally the legal matter of extra-territorial jurisdiction was complex. CAAT, along with War on Want and other interested organisations, continues to press for regulation.

Corporate Mercenaries

Further Reading