Twenty years ago, the end of the Cold War threw thousands of soldiers to unemployment. Today they work for private companies that provide security and military services to an increasing number of states. NGOs and affected civilians denounce human rights violations perpetrated by military companies while the lack of legislation protects contractors employees from any punishment.

At January the US State Department announced the end of Blackwater’s contract in Irak. Days before, the Iraqi government had announced they wouldn’t renew the licence that the company had to work in the country.

Some see it as a sign of the new times: Obama’s new government has brought a significant change to international relations. On the other hand, 10.000 “workers” belonging to twelve private military companies (PMC) are still on the ground and they have such an important paper on rebuilding Iraq that it seems unlikely that they will be leaving soon.

Indeed, the Iraq war has made clear the rise of direct intervention by PMCs on armed conflicts all over the world. A Guardian investigation made in December 2003 showed that <<the proportion of contracted security peronnel in the firing line is ten times greater than durind the first Gulf Whar>>. The newspaper also revealed that $30bn, one third of what was spent on central Asia conflicts, was spent on paying PMCs.

The trend of using contractors instead of army soldiers is due to the fact that they are cheaper than regular soldiers. Governments only pay for the services given therefore, they don’t have to face the costs of housing and pensions.

Besides, PMCs guarantee a fast arrival at almost any point of the planet: PMC EO can <<deploy a fully supported battalion of about 650 men within fifteen days>> says Professor Herbert Howe in an article for the National Defense University.

PMCs provide speciallized services as well: from post services to diplomatic security, cooking, maintenance of all kinds of installations, armament, vehicles and planes; there isn’t probably any service they can’t offer.

Nevertheless, PMCs intervention on military actions is not out of controversy. Several cases of corruption among the Bush administration, drugs traffic and sex slavery scandals in the Balkans and unjustified shootings to civilians in Iraq have been on and off the news for the last years.

NOGs denounce that when working for companies, PMC workers are legally considered as civilians. As a result, in case of crime, they are judged by the local law and not by the military law of the country they come from.

This has been the case of employees from american PMC Dyncorp, who were accused of selling the services of twelve year-old girls in Bosnia. They were fired but never prosecuted. Again, Blackwater employees have been accused of opening fire against civilians in Iraq and in 2003 american contractors Titan and CACI were implicated on Abu Ghraib scandal.

The lack of regulation on PMCs has led NGOs to active campaigns asking governments to set a regulation of the activities of those companies. Paul Collins, spokesman of British NGO War on Want explains the situation in his country: “Last July we began a campaign asking for regulation. The government started working on it but it stopped at some point, we still don’t know why”.

The fight for regulation of PMC activities is old. Protocol 1 Additional to the Geneva Convention from August 1977 already discouraged mercenary activity and so did the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention.

However, both were written before most of PMCs started they activity. Today, NGOs such as War on Want and even UN members have proposed including the PMCs into the definition of mercenary in the 1898 UN Convention, but they haven’t achieved any success. <<Even more, none of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have ratified the Convention>> denounces Collins.

Few countries have regulated the activity of PMCs themselves: the US and South Africa have. Oddly, twenty-four over the sixty-one PMCs actively working in Iraq are from those two countries.

The US regulates arms sales and export of military services since 1980. The law obliges contractors to register for a licence, but it also allows companies to collaborate directly with the government.

In contrast, War on Want informs that South Africa is working on an unprecedented law that will regulate military assistance, allow the government to declare some conflicts prohibited to South Africans.

In the last years PMCs have turned into very lucrative bussiness. Today their extended presence in all conflicts and their efficiency on the ground seem to make them essential. However, continuously denounced human rights violations should alert governments from using the services of such companies. Moreover, the lack of legislation allows employees escape from military legislation and the accuseds are almost never judged or punished. Governments using the services of PMCs should take previous denounces against contractors into account and start working to set a regulation for their activities in order to make them respect human rights.