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"UN: International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, 1989" [2005] ELECD 317; in Tully, Stephen (ed), "International Documents on Corporate Responsibility" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: International Documents on Corporate Responsibility

Editor(s): Tully, Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843768197

Section: Chapter 94

Section Title: UN: International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, 1989

Number of pages: 3

Extract:

94. UN: International Convention against the
Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of
Mercenaries, 1989

Commentary: The legal concepts of `armed attack' and `self-defence' apply to non-
State actors: ICJ, Case concerning Military Activities in and Against Nicaragua (1986) ICJ
Rep 14: paragraph 195; Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (2004): paragraph 139 & Declaration of Judge
Buergenthal, paragraph 6; Security Council Resolution 1368 (2001). In particular,
mercenaries threaten the political independence and territorial integrity of States. Their
military efficiency may derive from failure to observe the laws and customs of warfare
and human rights obligations such as the right of self-determination: UNHRC (1999),
`Report made pursuant to Commission Resolution 1998/6', UN Doc E/CN.4/1999/11:
paragraph 75. The Convention extracted below (29 ILM 91, not yet in force) prohibits
resort to their use. See further, Organisation of African Unity (OAU) (1972),
Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, OAU Doc CM/433/RevL
Annex 1 (entry into force 1985). However, neither international law nor public policy
precludes contractual enforcement simply by virtue of the subject matter: In the Matter
of an International Arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules between Sandline International Inc
and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (2000) 117 ILR 551: para 11.1.
The nature of mercenary activity has also evolved: see Zarate J.C. (1998), `The
emergence of a new dog of war: private international security companies, international
law and the new world disorder', ...