Towards an International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers

Towards an International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers PDF

Author: Anne-Marie Buzatu

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13:

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The use of private security companies (PSCs) to perform services that are traditionally associated with the state presents a challenge to regulatory and oversight frameworks. Analyzing developments leading to the International Code of Conduct for Security Providers (ICOC) and the ICOC Association, this paper argues that a multistakeholder approach to develop standards adapted for the private sector and which creates governance and oversight mechanisms fills some of the governance gaps found in traditional regulatory approaches.

Towards an International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers

Towards an International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers PDF

Author: Anne-Marie Buzatu

Publisher: Ubiquity Press

Published: 2015-09-19

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13: 1911529390

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The use of private security companies (PSCs) to provide security services has been on the rise since the end of the Cold War, with PSCs operating in a number of contexts, including armed conflict and areas where the rule of law has been compromised. The use of private actors to perform services that are traditionally associated with the state is not limited to PSCs, but is emblematic of a growing trend by governments to outsource functions with a view to improving efficiency and cutting budgets. Privatization of public functions can, however, present a number of challenges to existing national and international regulatory and oversight frameworks. In the private security sector these challenges were brought to international attention after high-profile incidents in which PSCs injured civilians revealed difficulties in effectively holding international PSCs accountable. This paper argues that crafting a multistakeholder regulatory approach in which key stakeholders work together to develop standards that are appropriately adapted for the private sector, as well as to create governance and oversight mechanisms to hold these private actors to effective account, helps to fill some of the governance gaps found in traditional regulatory approaches. It recounts the developments leading to the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICOC) and its governance and oversight mechanism, the ICOC Association, offering an example of the development of an initiative which sets new international standards and elaborates a multistakeholder framework and approach to governance for the private security sector. A recent trend of state and non-state clients requiring compliance with the ICOC initiative in their contracts with PSCs offers a new take on binding international regulation of private actors.

Private Military and Security Companies in International Law

Private Military and Security Companies in International Law PDF

Author: Corinna Seiberth

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781780681825

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Many states view Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) as crucial to implementing their security policy. However, reoccurring incidents of human rights violations have led the international community, private sector, and civil society to acknowledge the need for more control over the use of PMSCs. Growing state support for The Montreux Document and an ever growing number of signatory companies to the International Code of Conduct for Security Providers (ICoC) show that self-regulation through non-binding norms has shifted to the center of the debate. This book examines the promises and dangers of emerging non-binding PMSC regulation alongside more traditional forms of law-making, such as plans for an international convention on the use of PMSCs. It offers an in-depth analysis of legal and political developments that led to the proliferation of The Montreux Document and the ICoC. Identifying the state side of duties and corporate responsibility as leaving gaps and grey zones in international law, the book analyzes how both instruments address 'the responsibility to protect' and 'the responsibility to respect.' Covering the Private Security Providers' Association's Articles of Association, the most recent developments on the establishment of a PMSC oversight mechanism are included. Finally, the book provides an original theory of how both instruments could become more effective to protect victims against PMSC human rights violations: The Montreux Document, by developing into a form of customary international law, and the standards of the ICoC framework, by developing into more binding normative standards as a form of 'corporate custom.'

Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies

Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies PDF

Author: Rita Abrahamsen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-10-08

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1317914325

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This new Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of current research on private security and military companies, comprising essays by leading scholars from around the world. The increasing privatization of security across the globe has been the subject of much debate and controversy, inciting fears of private warfare and even the collapse of the state. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the range of issues raised by contemporary security privatization, offering both a survey of the numerous roles performed by private actors and an analysis of their implications and effects. Ranging from the mundane to the spectacular, from secretive intelligence gathering and neighbourhood surveillance to piracy control and warfare, this Handbook shows how private actors are involved in both domestic and international security provision and governance. It places this involvement in historical perspective, and demonstrates how the impact of security privatization goes well beyond the security field to influence diverse social, economic and political relationships and institutions. Finally, this volume analyses the evolving regulation of the global private security sector. Seeking to overcome the disciplinary boundaries that have plagued the study of private security, the Handbook promotes an interdisciplinary approach and contains contributions from a range of disciplines, including international relations, politics, criminology, law, sociology, geography and anthropology. This book will be of much interest to students of private security companies, global governance, military studies, security studies and IR in general.

Incorporating Rights

Incorporating Rights PDF

Author: Erika George

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-08-17

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0190666730

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Human rights have not been a central concern of corporate law. Corporate actors have not been a central concern of international human rights law. This book examines existing and emerging strategies that could conceivably close a global governance gap that places human rights at risk and puts commercial actors in the position of becoming complicit in human rights abuses or implicated in abuses when conducting business in emerging market economies or other complex environments. Corporate codes of conduct, sustainability reporting, and selected multi-stakeholder initiatives are presented as the building blocks of a system of strengthening "soft law" that could solidify to become binding baseline standards for better business practices. It explains the conditions that have given rise to constructive change as well as those methods and mechanisms with promise for ensuring that business enterprises incorporate human rights considerations into business operations. This book explores how capital and consumer markets could provide an additional or alternative form of enforcement to promote responsible business conduct. It provides comparative accounts of the creation of industry sector specific regulatory instruments and governance institutions arising from allegations of corporate complicity in human rights abuses after conflicts with concerned constituencies and affected communities. It considers market-based strategies to bring business practices into alignment with the responsibility to respect human rights and examines how corporate social responsibility initiatives could close the governance gap and how codes of conduct could come to regulate like real rules. It argues that regulation through information is essential to ensure that corporate conduct will be informed by human rights considerations and that business policies and practices will be implemented consistent with respect for human rights.

Hired Guns and Human Rights

Hired Guns and Human Rights PDF

Author: Kuzi Charamba

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2020-10-30

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1839102896

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This innovative book provides an overview and critical assessment of the current avenues and remedies available to victims seeking recourse from private military and security companies (PMSCs) for human rights violations.

Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and the Quest for Accountability

Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and the Quest for Accountability PDF

Author: George Andreopoulos

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-18

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1000022536

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Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have constituted a perennial feature of the security landscape. Yet, it is their involvement in and conduct during the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have transformed the outsourcing of security services into such a pressing public policy and world-order issue. The PMSCs’ ubiquitous presence in armed conflict situations, as well as in post-conflict reconstruction, their diverse list of clients (governments in the developed and developing world, non-state armed groups, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and international corporations) and, in the context of armed conflict situations, involvement in instances of gross misconduct, have raised serious accountability issues. The prominence of PMSCs in conflict zones has generated critical questions concerning the very concept of security and the role of private force, a rethinking of "essential governmental functions," a rearticulation of the distinction between public/private and global/local in the context of the creation of new forms of "security governance," and a consideration of the relevance, as well as limitations, of existing regulatory frameworks that include domestic and international law (in particular international human rights law and international humanitarian law). This book critically examines the growing role of PMSCs in conflict and post-conflict situations, as part of a broader trend towards the outsourcing of security functions. Particular emphasis is placed on key moral, legal, and political considerations involved in the privatization of such functions, on the impact of outsourcing on security governance, and on the main challenges confronting efforts to hold PMSCs accountable through a combination of formal and informal, domestic as well as international, regulatory mechanisms and processes. It will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, practitioners and advocates for a more transparent and humane security order. This book was published as a special issue of Criminal Justice Ethics.

Operational Law in International Straits and Current Maritime Security Challenges

Operational Law in International Straits and Current Maritime Security Challenges PDF

Author: Jörg Schildknecht

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-05-26

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 3319727184

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This book addresses a wide range of contemporary operational maritime law issues across the spectrum of operations. It provides sophisticated analyses and insights, and offers new interpretations of topics that are directly relevant for contemporary naval operations.The book examines unresolved legal issues in order to provide guidelines for conducting maritime operations, and also offers reference material for general education on the law of naval operations. Further, it serves as a comprehensive resource for operational doctrine and military planning, and presents an approach to dealing with multiple legal issues that demonstrates how modern military operations at sea can legally be executed. Focusing on operational and tactical topics, it is a valuable addition to the bookshelves of military lawyers and operators alike.