[PDF] Report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination
Author: UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, Published on: 7 February 2007
The final chapter provides the conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group, noting the phenomenon of individuals recruited by private military and private security companies (PMSCs) to perform military services in armed conflicts, and a number of pertinent human rights issues concerned…[P]articular[ly] concerning [is that] children [are] being recruited by private military security companies…The Chairperson-Rapporteur [in 2006] noted the increasing phenomenon of outsourcing by States of core military and security functions to private companies, and expressed the concern that some PMSCs are committing human rights violations with impunity whilst operating in armed conflicts…[B]y 15 November 2006 PMSCs had had 420 staff killed in Iraq…two PMSCs…violat[ed] human rights…in the prison of Abu Ghraib… The Working Group notes a phenomenon in Latin America (and other regions), of States increasingly ceding military and security core functions to PMSCs, with the risk that PMSCs are complicit in human rights violations while enjoying complete impunity.