Storm grows over mercenaries' ‘abuse’

This accusation comes from War on Want, which announced that a government document acquired under freedom of information laws reveals ministers went close to launching pre-legislative consultation earlier this year.

In a letter to Miliband, the charity has expressed concern that a political block delayed steps towards regulation.

The government document listed issues for public consultation with parliamentarians, industry, non-governmental organisations and academics on proposals for a “twin-track regulatory system” for private military firms. The system would combine a register of authorised companies with contract licences.

This revelation follows a new report by British MPs on the influential foreign affairs select committee that brands Miliband’s failure to act “unacceptable”.

In a response to the Foreign Office’s annual human rights report, MPs expressed dismay that the government’s draft legislative programme for next year made no reference to private security firms. The committee called on the government to use the forthcoming Queen’s Speech to announce plans to introduce legislation.

The MPs called for strict curbs on private security companies, with provision for firms to face prosecution in British courts for serious human rights abuse committed abroad.

War on Want is calling for legislation, including a ban on mercenaries’ use in combat, and cites hundreds of incidents which have involved guards from US and UK companies in human rights abuse.

Ruth Tanner, senior campaigns officer at War on Want, said: “We are extremely concerned that the government has `blocked moves towards regulation. We welcome the foreign affairs committee’s call for action on private military companies. It is high time to get tough on firms making a killing in Iraq.”

Last month a Panorama film on BBC television featured the incident last October in Iraq when mercenaries working for the British private security group Erinys International opened fire on a cab near Kirkuk. In the same month as the Erinys incident, mercenaries from the Australian company Unity Resources Group killed two Iraqi women. In September mercenaries from the American private military company Blackwater killed 17 Iraqi civilians. And in November an Iraqi taxi driver was shot dead by mercenaries with DynCorp International, hired to protect US diplomats.

In 2002 the UK government acknowledged the problems over private armies in a green paper which listed options for regulation. In its response to the paper later that year, the Commons foreign affairs committee recommended that “private companies be expressly prohibited from direct participation in armed combat operations, and that firearms should only be carried... by company employees for purposes of training or self-defence”. The committee also proposed that the government consider “a complete ban on recruitment for such activities of United Kingdom citizens by overseas-based or offshore PMCs”, while remaining activities be subject to licence.

But since then the British government has failed to move towards regulation despite the United Nations, the British parliament and the industry itself calling on it to take decisive action.

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CONTACT: Paul Collins, War on Want media officer (+44) (0)7983 550728

Corporate Mercenaries Homepage: Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) sell security and military services at home and overseas. They are now in the corporate boardroom and becoming a ‘normal’ part of the military sector.