Accountability for Private Military and Security Contractors in the International Legal Regime

Abstract

The rapidly growing presence of private military and security contractors (PMSCs) in armed conflict and post-conflict situations in the last decade brought corresponding incidents of serious misconduct by PMSC personnel. The two most infamous events—one involving the firm formerly known as Blackwater and the other involving Titan and CACI—engendered scrutiny of available mechanisms for criminal and civil accountability of the individuals whose misconduct caused the harm. Along a parallel track, scholars and policymakers began examining the responsibility of states and international organizations for the harm that occurred. Both approaches have primarily focused on post-conduct accountability—of the individuals who caused the harm, of the state in which the harm occurred, or of the state or organization that hired the PMSC whose personnel caused the harm. Less attention, however, has been paid to the idea of pre-conduct accountability for PMSCs and their personnel. A broad understanding of “accountability for” PMSCs and their personnel encompasses not only responsibility for harm caused by conduct, but responsibility for hiring, hosting, and monitoring these entities, as well as responsibility to the victims of the harm. This article provides a comprehensive approach for analyzing the existing international legal regime, and whether and to what extent the legal regime provides “accountability for” PMSCs and their personnel. It does so by proposing a practical construct of three phases based on PMSC operations—Contracting, In-the-Field, and Post-Conduct—with which to assess the various bodies of international law.     

‘A Pre-eminent Right to Political Rule’:1 Indigenous Fijian Power and Multi-ethnic Nation Building

Abstract

The indigenous Fijian conviction of entitlement to political power was encouraged by their privileged position in the colonial state and their marginalisation in the modern economy. The development of a cohesive nation state has been impeded by ongoing conflict between two political imperatives: indigenous nationalism and the need to shape a system of political representation and government accommodating the interests of the non-indigenous citizens, primarily the Indians, who together number over 40% of the population. This paper traces the course of that conflict from the commencement of decolonisation in the early 1960s to the political instability arising from strengthened ethno-nationalism and military intervention since 1987.     

Give Me Shelter: Reexamining Military Intervention and the Monadic Democratic Peace

Increasing empirical evidence points to the existence of a monadic democratic peace. However, the quantitative literature on international conflict has yet to produce any compelling evidence that such a peace holds for one of the most prominent types of interstate force in use today, foreign military intervention. This study tests the hypotheses that democracies are less prone to intervene militarily and less likely to be the targets of such incursions. In doing so, it compares six overlapping theoretical perspectives on the monadic democratic peace. No empirical support is lent to the hypothesis that democracies intervene less often than nondemocracies, but considerable evidence indicates that democracies are rarely the targets of foreign military intervention. The latter result remains consistent across six different intervention populations from 1975 to 1996. Of the six theoretical perspectives analyzed, the institutional approach recently advanced by Bueno de Mesquita and his associates fares best. Its predictions match the empirical outcomes exactly. None of the other theoretical frameworks is even half right. In sum, it seems that democratic governance provides a barrier against foreign military intervention, but it does not limit intervention abroad.     

Privatising war: assessing the decision to hire private military contractors

There has been a huge growth in the size and number of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) in the last decade or so. In this context, the question of when, if ever, states should hire PMSCs to carry out military operations has gained particular urgency. In this paper, I defend the answer that states should do so whenever PMSCs will be the most effective agents available against a number of recent objections. All of these objections claim that considerations aside from the relative effectiveness of PMSCs should bear on the question. Some argue that there is something inherently morally problematic with hiring PMSCs, and thus infer that they should sometimes not be hired even when they are the most effective agents available. Others point to undesirable side-effects that hiring PMSCs is thought to cause, and claim that these should be taken into account when deciding whether to hire them. I argue, however, that all of these further considerations are either irrelevant to the decision or reducible to effectiveness.     

论北极地区再军事化的新动向及其特征

冷战时期,北极地区曾被高度军事化。近年来,俄关紧张关系的加剧以及北极东北航道的开通或将改变北半球的战略和能源格局,而环北极国家对北极战略和经济利益的诉求更是直接引发了该地区的再军事化。各国都通过建立北极部队、购买武器以及军事演习等方式加强在北极的军事存在。既有的涉及北极地区治理的法律条约和国际合作都缺乏对军事安全的规定。基于此,当前可以通过缔结条约、建立军事论坛以及赋予北极理事会协调处理北极地区军事问题职能的方式应对该地区的再军事化问题,同时明确各方在该议题治理进程中是利益共同体、责任共同体和命运共同体的现实,从而确保北极的和平与稳定。     

论军事立法质量标准

提高军事立法质量是加强和改进军事立法工作的永恒主题，也是完善中国特色军事法规体系的必然要求。军事立法质量标准，包括政治性标准、必要性标准、合法性标准、科学性标准、技术性标准五个方面。     

加拿大军事即决审判制度述评

为有效维护军队纪律、保障军事行动有效性、体现军事司法速决性，加拿大在其军事司法体系中引入即决审判制度。即决审判在加拿大军事案件处理中发挥着重要作用，并在案件适用范围、追诉时效、审判类型、法律援助官任命、审判后的救济等方面有别于一般的军事审判，有其自身鲜明的特色。同时，即决审判为了寻求纪律与正义之间的平衡，满足审判组织灵活、诉讼程序快捷的要求，在有效保障军人诉讼权利、限制指挥官的司法管辖权、重视被告审判后的救济方面取得重大进展。     

从价值论看武德的基本功能

武德是军事实践中特殊的道德现象.从价值论角度来看,武德反映的是一种特殊的主客体关系.正是这种主客体关系的特殊性,决定了武德基本功能与道德一般功能的相同和不同.武德除了具备一般道德的教育、认知和调节这三大功能外,还具有明显的规范、激励、教化、传承、美育、净化等军事实践功能,武德的价值实现就是这几种基本功能的发挥过程,它们的凝聚合成了军人和军队的武德力量.     

军事法价值研究

军事法价值是军事法的内在价值、外显价值和形式价值的有机统一.军事法价值的主要内容是维护国防利益价值;维护军事秩序价值;维护军人利益价值;体现和维护社会正义价值.法的价值实现本质上是法的实现的构成部分.法的实现是指法的规定经过法的实施被转化为社会现实的过程和结果,而军事法价值的实现则是指军事法的规定经过实施被转化为军事现实的过程和结果.     

Workplace drug testing in a military organization: Results and experiences from the testing program in the Finnish Defence Forces

In the military environment drug abuse is a particular risk for occupational safety. In the Finnish Defence Forces a drug testing program was conducted in 2002–2005; soldiers, professional civilians, and military students were tested when applying for a work or right to study; furthermore, annually 5% of the personnel were subjected to random testing. In total, over 2000 urine samples were analyzed in an accredited laboratory for cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, or cocaine. In this article, the drug testing program as a part of the anti-drug strategy of the Finnish Defence Forces is described, and the findings including practical experiences and financial expenses are reported. Only one person applying for a civilian post tested positive for amphetamine and cannabis. In seven other samples codeine and morphine were detected; these were, however, due to prescribed medication, not drug abuse. In the execution of the program, no particular difficulties were reported. In conclusion, it seems that the use of illicit drugs in the Finnish military is extremely rare, at least partly due to the successful anti-drug strategy. After an elaborate planning, even an extensive drug testing program can be executed without substantial setbacks. In the future, the effectiveness of drug testing programs as a means of improving occupational safety needs to be investigated in controlled studies using comparative design.