The present report is a response to the parliamentary postulate 04.3267 on Private Security Companies submitted by the Member of the Council of States Philipp Stähelin on 1 June 2004. The postulate calls on the Federal Council to instruct its security policy bodies to present an overview over the origins, deployment and methods of private security companies in areas that have traditionally been the preserve of the state monopoly of the use of force...Switzerland is cooperating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in this international process, having already drafted with that organisation common guidelines for intergovernmental initiatives...the Swiss initiative is essentially neutral in its attitude towards the desirability of private security and military companies.