Global Policy Forum

In September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council noted that greater transparency and accountability are needed to remedy incidents of human rights violations committed by private military security contractors.  The Council noted that contracting out government work that involves the use of force and the detention of persons does not absolve countries of their obligations to uphold human rights law. The Council was specifically considering alleged abuses committed by a company hired by the US government and their report recommended that the US stop withholding key information from the public regarding alleged human rights violations and reduce its use of the state secrets privilege to block legal scrutiny of unlawful practices involving private contractors. (American Civil Liberties Union)

The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination visited Chile to investigate private Chilean security companies. These companies, which recruit former soldiers and send them to Iraq as mercenaries, have been charged with human right abuses, illegal association, possession of explosives and unauthorized use of army weaponry. Chile has not yet signed the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, approved by the UN General Assembly in 1989, but it has stated that it will sign and ratify the treaty by the end of 2007. (IPS)

This Inter Press Service article details a mission to Peru conducted by a UN working group to investigate security firms that recruit mercenaries and violate human rights. The author argues that large corporations increasingly hire current or former police officers and military personnel to intimidate activists attempting to protect the environment or the rights of local populations from the actions of corporations. (IPS)