F. Francioni and N. Ronzitti (eds). War by Contract: Human Rights, Humanitarian Law and Private Contractors

• Autores: Rein Müllerson
• Localización: European journal of international law = Journal europeen de droit international, ISSN 0938-5428, Vol. 24, Nº 3, 2013, págs. 977-981
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • Although the sub-title of the book indicates that the authors are not going to deal with all the legal issues arising in the context of a "privatization" of warfare, the book, and not only the first chapter by Eugenio Cusumano on the policy prospects of regulating private military and security companies (PMSCs), throws its net wider than the title suggests. And rightly so. The privatization of warfare is a consequence and an element of the post-Cold War triumph of capitalism, and especially its neo-liberal advocates' tendency to privatize and deregulate all and everything. It is not by chance that PMSCs have mushroomed in the heartland of neoliberalism - the USA - faithfully followed by its Anglo-Saxon brethren on this side of the Atlantic. As the book specifies, in 2009 there were approximately 119,706 Department of Defense contractors in Iraq, compared with about 134,571 uniformed personnel (at 13). The authors accept the privatization of various functions of the state, including its "monopoly of violence", to be almost inevitable. Nevertheless, they call for stronger and tighter regulation of the status and functions of PMSCs and control over their activities. They also show that though often new norms may be needed, in many cases existing laws, and their stricter and sometimes more creative application, may serve the purpose. The book concludes that "many private military and security companies are operating in a "gray zone", which is not defined at all, or at the very least not clearly defined, by international legal norms" (at 340).

    Though private security (not military) companies, whose functions may range from running prisons to acting as bouncers in nightclubs, have a presence in practically all countries, the authors concentrate on the activities of those PMSCs which operate in the most hazardous situations, including the context of armed conflicts, be �