Security regulation

= What are PMSCs? =

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) are businesses that offer specialised services related to war and conflict, including combat operations, strategic planning, intelligence collection, operational and logistical support, training, procurement and maintenance. They are distinguished by the following features:

• Organisational structure: PMSCs are registered businesses with corporate structures.

• Motivation: PMSCs provide their services, primarily for profit rather than for political reasons.

PMSCs vary enormously in size, ranging from small consulting firms to huge transnational corporations. Although PMSCs first appeared during World War II, geopolitical changes and the restructuring of many countries’ armed forces following the end of the Cold War have spurred rapid growth in the private military industry. Today more than 150 companies offer theirservices in over 50 countries.

What other terms are used to refer to PMSCs?

Terms such as mercenaries, private military companies (PMCs) and private security companies (PSCs) are often used interchangeably with PMSCs. Until recently, mercenary was the standard term for actors in a conflict that are generally motivated solely by personal gain. The term appears in some international treaties, though these have been criticised for lack of precision because they focus on the motivation for actions, which are difficult to identify, rather than the actions themselves. For instance, many American security contractors in Iraq claim to work as much out of patriotism as for financial gain.

Security Regulation also known as Private Security Regulation is an important element of Security Sector Reform that focuses on the rapidly growing need to regulate the activities of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs)through legal means at the international, regional and national level. The reliance of states and sub-state actors on private security firms is constantly growing and the resulting problems grow in parallel.

Private Security Regulation in the context of Security Sector Governance and Reform

The United States' use of PMSCs in Iraq is probably the most prolific example of the problems facing their employment. It is worth noting though, that the United States and South Africa have the most developed legislation governing the employment of PMSCs in third country contexts.¹ The use of PMSCs is a growing trend across the globe, and is involving growing number of personnel in an ever-increasingly broad selection of activities.

Security Privatisation, from the perspective of both the top-down decision to outsource military - and security related to private firms, and the bottom-up activities of armed non-state actors such as rebel opposition groups, insurgents, militias and warlord factions, challenge the state's authority and monopoly of legitimate force. Common to this phenomenon in all its dimensions is that it has significant is that it has significant implications for effective and democratically accountable security governance and is directly linked to opportunities for security sector reform (SSR) across the range of different reform contexts.²

Private Security and Military Companies (PSCs/PMCs), have significant implications for effective and democratically accountable security sector governance as both concern the diminished state monopoly of the use of military force.3

Difficulties of Regulation

There is agreement that there exists a major lack of regulation of the functions of PMSCs across the globe.⁴ Regulation of private security companies in domestic contexts is somewhat more developed but generally can hardly be said to be rigorous. To date, action to control PMCs and PSCs has been ad hoc and sporadic.⁵

The more complicated matter of PMCs and PSCs operating abroad has been left largely to self-regulation and corporate responsibility. Self-regulation has proven to be a completely inadequate means of either protecting or raising industry standards. It has had the effect of penalizing the better companies who, while doing their best to maintain standards, have found themselves constantly underpriced in tendering for contracts by unscrupulous employers complying with little or no standards.⁶

The absence of regulation in the private provision of military and security services, the difficulty of democratic control, as well as the inadequacy of measures to hold the companies and their employees to account for their actions, are of particular concern.

Furthermore the employment of PMSCs in peacekeeping and international military operations has increased as the drives to increase troop presence in foreign countries have been stemmed by congressional and parliamnetary decisions. The force size has often been supplmemented by private firms specialized in tasks requiring their services.

One great problem is the ambiguous legal status of PMCs and PSCs in regard to existing international treaties relevant to conflict and war. This is partly because the whole structure of diplomacy and international recognition rests on the state as a cornerstone and building block of international law and international relations. There is no clarity about the exact relationship between governments and private military and security companies. In their own interests, governments and their military institutions often publicly distance themselves from such companies. Contractors do not fall under the narrowly defined international laws on mercenaries. Nor do most national laws – where they exist at all – clearly apply to contractors.

Effective regulation of PMCs and PSCs requires an interlocking framework of national, regional and international control mechanisms.⁷

¹ Caparini, Marina and Bryden, Alan (eds.). Private Actors and Security Governance. Zurich: Lit Verlag GmbH & Co., 2006. p.3.
² ibid.
³ ibid. p.10
⁴ ibid.
⁵ Schreier , F. and Caparini, M., "Privatising Security: Law, Practice and Governance of Private Military and Security Companies." DCAF Occasional Paper No.6, March 2005, Geneva. (available at www.dcaf.ch), p.3

⁶Ibid., p.28

⁷Ibid.

Additional Rescources

1) Caparini, Marina and Bryden, Alan (eds.). Private Actors and Security Governance. Zurich: Lit Verlag GmbH & Co., 2006.
2) Many Documents can be found at the DCAF Website - [http://www.dcaf.ch]
3) Schreier , F. and Caparini, M., "Privatising Security: Law, Practice and Governance of Private Military and Security Companies."
DCAF Occasional Paper No.6, March 2005, Geneva. [http://www.dcaf.ch]
4) [http://www.privatesecurityregulation.net Private Security Regulation Net] - Collection of National Regulations and Global and Regional Agreements on Private Security Companies

See also

1) Private Military Companies
2) Security Sector Reform
3) Private Defense Companies