Mercenaries, as they are not considered as combatants under IHL, will ipso facto not benefit from POW status. Additional Protocol I and the OAU/AU Convention (art 3) are categorical in this regard, stipulating that mercenaries shall not be entitled to POW status..
Do mercenaries fall under the Geneva Convention?
The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces..
Do mercenaries have rights under the Geneva Convention?
Rule 108. Mercenaries, as defined in Additional Protocol I, do not have the right to combatant or prisoner-of-war status. They may not be convicted or sentenced without previous trial..
Does international law prohibit war?
Why do we need international humanitarian law? War is forbidden. The Charter of the United Nations states clearly that the threat or use of force against other States is unlawful. Since 1945, war has no longer been an acceptable way to settle differences between States..
What is a mercenary in international law?
A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation: Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at : Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or..
What is a mercenary under international law?
A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation: Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at : Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or..
Which country has mercenaries?
Recent years have seen major mercenary activity in Yemen, Nigeria, Ukraine, Syria, and Iraq. Many of these for-profit warriors outclass local militaries, and a few can even stand up to America's most elite forces, as the battle in Syria shows. The Middle East is awash in mercenaries..
Why are mercenaries protected by the Geneva Convention?
Mercenaries are not entitled to the status of combatant, prisoner of war (API Article 47), or any of the categories of protected persons provided for by the Geneva Conventions, unless they are wounded or sick, although they must always benefit from humane treatment..
Why was it important to have mercenaries?
During the later Middle Ages, Free Companies (or Free Lances) were formed, consisting of companies of mercenary troops. Nation-states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire free companies to serve in their armies during wartime..
International humanitarian law is a set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects persons who are not or are no longer participating in the hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare.
International humanitarian law protects those who do not take part in the fighting, such as civilians and medical and religious military personnel. It also protects those who have ceased to take part, such as wounded, shipwrecked and sick combatants, and prisoners of war.
Mercenaries, as they are not considered as combatants under IHL, will ipso facto not benefit from POW status. Additional Protocol I and the OAU/AU Convention (art 3) are categorical in this regard, stipulating that mercenaries shall not be entitled to POW status.
Why do we need international humanitarian law? War is forbidden. The Charter of the United Nations states clearly that the threat or use of force against other States is unlawful. Since 1945, war has no longer been an acceptable way to settle differences between States.
Rule 108. Mercenaries, as defined in Additional Protocol I, do not have the right to combatant or prisoner-of-war status. They may not be convicted or sentenced without previous trial.
International law prohibits the use of mercenaries in armed conflict and certain peaceful situations.
International law prohibits the use of mercenaries in armed conflict and certain peaceful situations. Owing to its special nature, the law of armed conflict
Can mercenaries be banned under international customary law?
90
28 Again there is no total ban on the use of mercenaries under international customary law
Those conventions introduced by the international community have focused on the prohibition of mercenary activities aimed at the sovereignty of legitimate states, the suppression of movements of national liberation, or national self-determination
What is the difference between mercenary law and international humanitarian law?
The two conventions refer to the same definition of mercenary as the one contained in international humanitarian law, but they enlarge the scope of the definition
Indeed, the conventions are applicable in situations of international and non-international armed conflicts, while the IHL definition is limited to international armed conflicts
Who is a mercenary?
Is the accomplice of a person who commits or attempts to commit any of the offences set forth in the present Convention
States Parties shall not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries and shall prohibit such activities in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention
Mercenaries have played a vital role in the modern history of Africa from the independent movements of the 1960s up until the 2020s. Broadly the mercenary actions can be broken into two types of related actors, which can then be examined regionally. Mercenaries have been used to both influence conflicts in order to support or attack governments friendly to various foreign governments, notably the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and many other foreign actors. This is mainly done to maintain spheres of influence, and create friendly governments. This was most prevalent during the cold war era, but continues to this day, notably with the Russian Wagner Group. The second group of actions are mercenaries working on behalf of large multinational corporations, helping to secure resource extraction areas. Oftentimes the support of mercenary groups to keep a leader or government in power comes at a large cost, that the government is unable to pay, who then offers the mercenary company or Private Military Company (PMC) rights to resource extraction areas such as diamond mines, oil fields or other valuable natural resource to pay for the services of the mercenary company. This has notably happened in Sierra Leone. Legislation has been adopted by the OAU as well as the IRCC, and various African governments to attempt to regulate or ban the use and creation of mercenary companies. This legislation has been mostly unsuccessful largely because world powers such as the United States and Russia continue to condone the use of mercenaries as a tool of state craft. Many modern scholars consider the use of mercenaries in Africa to be a form of neocolonialism.
International law and mercenaries
Soldier who fights for hire
A mercenary – also called a soldier of fortune, a hired gun, a freelance, or a sellsword – is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests.
Turkey-based Islamist paramilitary organization
SADAT Inc. International Defense Consultancy is a private Turkish PMC headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the country's first domestic military consultancy firm, founded in 2012 by former Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) brigadier general, Adnan Tanrıverdi. The company operates within the Middle East and provides services such as military and interior training, defense consultancy, and ordnance procurement. SADAT's mission and purpose remains shrouded in controversy, facing allegations from anti-Justice and Development Party (AKP) sources. These allegations range from supporting establishing a private army loyal to President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. It has close communication and cooperation with the Turkish National Intelligence Organization. Sadat's CEO admits working with Turkish intelligence agency on March 21 2021.
Sandline International was a private military company (PMC) based
British private military company
Sandline International was a private military company (PMC) based in London, established in the early 1990s. It was involved in conflicts in Papua New Guinea in 1997 and had a contract with the government under then-Prime Minister Julius Chan, causing the Sandline affair. In 1998 in Sierra Leone Sandline had a contract with ousted President Kabbah and in Liberia in 2003 was involved in a rebel attempt to evict the then-president Charles Taylor near the end of the civil war. Sandline ceased all operations on 16 April 2004.
The Swiss mercenaries were a powerful infantry force
Historical Swiss mercenary infantry forces
The Swiss mercenaries were a powerful infantry force constituted by professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the kings of France, throughout the early modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss' advantages. Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican.
The prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm in public international law—meaning that it is forbidden under all circumstances—as well as being forbidden by international treaties such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
The United Nations Mercenary Convention, officially the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, is a 2001 United Nations treaty that prohibits the recruitment, training, use, and financing of mercenaries. At the 72nd plenary meeting on 4 December 1989, the United Nations General Assembly concluded the convention as its resolution 44/34. The convention entered into force on 20 October 2001 and has been ratified by 46 states.
