Urgent actions
Ask your MP to sign EDM 785
Early Day Motions (EDMs) are a way for MPs to express opinions to the government. Ask your MP to sign EDM 785 calling on the Government to bring forward legislative proposals for the control of the PMSC sector as an urgent priority.
- Click here to see if your MP has already signed Early Day Motion 785.
If they are listed, please email, call or write to them to thank them. If they are not listed, please asked them to sign it. - Click here to find out who your MP is and how to contact them.
Here's a sample letter that you could send to your MP: There are currently tens of thousands of mercenaries working for private military and security companies (PMSCs) in Iraq outside legal or democratic control. Killings and human rights abuses by private armies in Iraq have dominated the headlines, and both the US and Iraqi governments are taking action to control these mercenary armies. Yet the UK government has failed to act, despite UK companies being some of the biggest players in the industry.
The UK government demonstrated that it was aware of the problems posed by PMSCs when it published a Green Paper in 2002. However, six years on it has failed to take forward any of the options presented in that Green Paper. The UK government must introduce legislation to control the PMSC sector, which must include a ban on mercenary involvement in combat. Self-regulation by the industry is not an option.
I urge you to sign EDM 785 and call on the Foreign Secretary to introduce legislation to regulate private military and security companies as a matter of urgency.
