America’s Private Soldiers and the Business of War

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by Katerina Canyon

In its November 17, 2012 issue, The Economist reported that the market for contracting private soldiers has grown immensely. The Economist cites a United Nations report, which states that this trade is worth over $100 billion globally. The rise of this market, according to The Economist, is due to contributions from Western governments, who provide 70% of the private firms that work in global battleground regions.

The affects that can arise from the “privatization of war” greatly concerned the UN following shootings that killed 17 people in Baghdad. The shootings involved Blackwater Personal Security Detail, (a private U.S. security firm), and occurred while Blackwater was clearing a path for U.S. State Department vehicles in September 2007. The Assembly had concerns that similar incidents would follow which could possibly lead to further violations of human rights.

At the time, the General Assembly expressed concerns regarding codes of conduct, as they believed that “private security firms operated in a grey area.” The U.S. believed at the time that its code was adequately established within the contracts they required security contractors to sign and no further monitoring was necessary. Most recently, at its October 31, 2011 assembly, the UN reported “an alarming resurgence in use of mercenaries to violate human rights” and it stated, “private security companies” must be regulated.” The UN recognized the global range of involvement by these private companies and stated that these firms “could not be allowed to continue to operate without adequate regulation and mechanisms to ensure accountability.”

The U.S. sometimes shares the same concerns when it comes to transparency. The New York Times reported in October about a private army trained by a private firm from the United Arab Emirates to hunt down Somali pirates. After mild successes, the anti-piracy army created by the UAE was left to its own devices. And now, the NY Times reported that this same company plans to rebrand and try its strategy again in Puntland, and this is where the U.S. expresses its concern. The NY Times further reported that a woman from the U.S. State Department said, “We share the monitoring group’s concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the Saracen and Sterling Corporate Services’ train-and-equip program for the Puntland Maritime Police Force, as well as the abuses alleged to have occurred during the training.”

The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers, drafted and created in 2010, is supposed to address these concerns. Additionally, there are laws in place in the U.S. and internationally to address the conduct of private security contractors. The UN reported that while over 200 companies around the world have signed the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers, regulation is inadequate.

Amnesty International has served as a long time critic of private security forces. In June 2007, Pratap Chatterjee testified before the United Nations about the failings of private security forces. In regard to their trainers, he stated, “Few trainers were qualified in the complex field of Security Sector Reform that has evolved from the last several decades.” Chatterjee further testified that intelligence personal told him that Paravant, a Blackwater subsidiary, “had employees raiding the police armory and taking AK-47s and ammunition for their personal use.”

While it is encouraging to see that there have been efforts to set up a code of conduct and to put into place international and U.S. laws, the lack of prosecution for human rights violations are beyond disturbing. Human rights violations continue to grow with each social and political conflict initiated around the globe. Additionally, the determination of fitness for these private soldiers seems to be lacking. Bob Paxman, a private soldier, told the BBC that he suffers from PTSD, and he comments that others in the industry suffer as well with little help coming from the private sector. Paxman stated, “There’s some people running around that really should not be working in a hostile environment… There’s loads of loose cannons running around.”

As stated above, war has turned into a multi-billion dollar business. Private Security Firms perform with few restrictions or protections. Many act with very little supervision or transparency. Because if this, it is a priority that Congress establish a reasonable means to limit and restrict the international actions of these private firms in order assure that these private firms do not violate the human rights of people living in combat areas around the world. These private U.S. firms should act in a limited ability, if at all, and should operate under the strict supervision of the U.S. government. We need look no further than the American banking industry to see what havoc an unregulated industry can create. Except now, more than our homes are at stake. Many lives have been lost, and the lives of thousands of people around the world are at risk if we do not take control of this situation immediately.

Take Action: Write to Congress and tell your representatives that you do not want private security companies to participate in combat actions around the world as contractors for the U.S. government, and in the least, these contractors should act under the strictest supervision of the U.S. government with laws in place for full-transparency.

Sources: The Economist; United Nations-Department of Public Information; Congressional Research Service; BBC, The New York Times.