Editors: Torroja, Helena (Ed.)
Springer International Publishing
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66098-1
ISBN 978-3-319-66098-1
- Focuses on human security and the impact of PMSCs on the protection of human rights
- Addresses soft-law initiatives in addition to existing international hard-law norms to regulate PMSCs
- Examines the possibility of introducing an international minimum standard to regulate the industry with a view to assisting policymakers, the Working Group on Mercenaries, civil society, etc
This book explores the human rights consequences of the new mercenarism, as channeled through so-called private military and security companies (PMSCs), and offers an overview of the evolution and status quo of both non-legal (soft law and self-regulation) and legal initiatives seeking to limit them. It addresses various topics, including the impact of the presence of non-state actors on human security using the cases of Afghanistan and Syria; research on PMSCs’ impact on human rights in specific cases; the insufficiency and ineffectiveness of existing direct and indirect legal prohibitions on the use of mercenaries; various aspects of international human rights law and international humanitarian law related to the conduct of PMSCs; soft-law and self-regulation mechanisms; and the international minimum standard in general international law regarding the privatization, export, import, and contracting of PMSCs.