Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

UN Peacekeeping and the International Private Military and Security Industry

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13533312.2010.546099

1743-906X

Christopher Spearin,

Peacebuilding and International Security

Abstract UN peacekeeping continues to confront qualitative and quantitative difficulties. Arguments in favour of using private military and security companies (PMSCs), particularly those referring to the 1990s-era when Executive Outcomes was operating, have been aired. The article examines earlier operational arguments for PMSC participation in UN peacekeeping, which at times have been reintroduced in more recent assertions: (1) PMSCs have better organization, training, and equipment; (2) they have a heightened willingness to apply force to serve UN mandates; and (3) they enjoy enhanced readiness to respond. The article argues, however, that it would be difficult for contemporary PMSCs to respond effectively, quickly, and robustly should the UN turn to them for enforcement operations. State and market pressures have conditioned PMSCs to operate in a manner dissimilar to that in the 1990s. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author would like to thank Donald Spearin, Noelle Morris and the anonymous reviewers for their advice and assistance in this article's preparation. The views expressed in the article are those of the author; they do not necessarily reflect those of the Canadian Department of National Defence or the government of Canada. Notes Kofi Annan, 'Intervention', Ditchley Foundation Lecture 35, 26 June 1998 (at: www.ditchley.co.uk/page/173/lecture-xxxv.htm). For comparisons between private and UN forces see, Herbert Howe, 'Private Security Forces and African Stability: The Case of Executive Outcomes', Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol.34, No.2, 1998, pp.307–31; David Shearer, Private Armies and Military Intervention, London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1998; Victor-Yves Ghebali, 'The United Nations and the Dilemma of Outsourcing Peacekeeping Operations', in Alan Bryden and Marina Caparini (eds), Private Actors and Security Governance, Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2006, pp.213–30. For general overviews of the PMSC industry see Peter W. Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2nd edn, 2008; Deborah Avant, The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. The manifold concerns included: the conceptual conflation of PMSCs with mercenaries; the negative impact of mercenaries in some post-colonial peacekeeping situations; the concern in some troop-contributing states that PMSCs could diminish the substantial hard currency remuneration they receive from peacekeeping contributions. See Sarah Percy, Mercenaries: The History of a Norm in International Relations, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; Sarah Percy, 'The Security Council and the Use of Private Force', in Vaughan Lowe, Adam Roberts, Jennifer Welsh and Dominik Zaum (eds), The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.624–40; Christopher Spearin, 'Private Security Companies and Humanitarians: A Corporate Solution to Securing Humanitarian Spaces?', International Peacekeeping, Vol.8, No.1, 2001, pp.20–43. Cited in 'UN to Strengthen Peacekeeping Efforts amid Rising Demand, Says Ban', UN News Centre, 7 July 2009 (at: www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31383&Cr=Secretary-general&Cr1=peacekeeping). For arguments of this kind see Max Boot, 'A Mercenary Force for Darfur', Wall Street Journal, 26 Oct. 2006 (at: www.cfr.org/publication/11813/); Steve Forbes, 'Quick Way to Stop the Killing', Forbes (New York), 10 Dec. 2007, p.27; Ian Bruce, 'UN Should Pay Mercenaries to Keep Peace', Herald Scotland (Glasgow), 4 Dec. 2006 (at: www.theherald.co.uk/features/75813.html); Scott Fitzsimmons, 'Dogs of Peace: A Potential Role for Private Military Companies in Peace Implementation', Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Vol.8, No.1, 2005, pp.1–26. Given the operational focus, it is beyond this article's scope to consider the cost-effectiveness of PMSCs vis-à-vis the state supply of military contingents for peacekeeping. Equally, given the focus on contemporary applicability, it is beyond the article's scope to consider the veracity of 1990s-era arguments extrapolated from the EO operations. Elizabeth Dickinson, 'Soldiers of Misfortune', Foreign Policy, No.172, 2009, p.41. For analysis of these issues, see Ghebali (n.2 above), p.224; Richard C. Longsworth, 'Phantom Forces, Diminished Dreams', Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol.51, No.2, 1995, pp.24–8; Birger Heldt, 'Trends from 1948 to 2005: How to View the Relation between the United Nations and Non-UN Entities', in Donald C. F. Daniel, Patricia Taft, and Sharon Wiharta (eds), Peace Operations: Trends, Progress, and Prospects, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008, p.21; Trevor Findlay, The Use of Force in Peace Operations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.351–9. Geoffrey Till, Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century, London: Routledge, 2nd edn, 2009, p.231 (original italics). Cited in Longsworth (see n.8 above), p.27. For analysis of these varying issues see John Heilprin, 'UN Aims to Limit Costs, Span of UN Peacekeeping', CBS News, 13 Feb. 2010 (at: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/12/ap/national/main6202905.shtml); Jean-Marc Coicaud, 'The Future of Peacekeeping', Foreign Policy in Focus, 28 Dec. 2007 (at: www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4855); Maggie Farley, 'U.N. Troops' Chief Said to Be Leaving', Los Angeles Times, 6 March 2008 (at: www.articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/06/world/fg-peacekeeper6); Matt Armstrong, 'Beyond Government Accountability', Serviam (Washington), March–April 2008 (at: www.serviammagazine.com/mag/MarApr2008/0408_Beyond_Govt_Accountability.htm); Gerard J. DeGroot, 'Supplying the Peace', Forbes, 5 June 2008 (at: www.forbes.com/technology/2008/06/05/logistics-peacekeeping-un-tech-logistics08-cx_gd_0605peace.html); Mark Malan, 'Africa: Building Institutions on the Run', in Daniel et al. (see n.7 above), pp.94–101; Dickinson (see n.7 above); Peter Williams, 'Lessons Learned: Despite Being the Largest U.N. Mission, MONUC Has Little Success to Show for It', Journal of International Peace Operations, Vol.4, No.4, 2009, p.12. 'Peacekeeping in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities', Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on International Relations, United States House of Representatives, 108th Congress, Second Session, 8 Oct. 2004 (at: www.commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa96360.000/hfa96360_0f.htm). Paul McIvor, 'Private Peacekeeping – Opportunity or Impossibility?', Peacekeeping & International Relations, Vol.27, No.6, 1998, p.3. Howe (see n.2 above), pp.308–9. Fitzsimmons (see n.5 above), p.3. Ibid., p.24. Anthony C. LoBaido, 'How Private Warriors Turned Tables in War', WorldNetDaily (Washington, DC), 18 Oct. 2004 (at: www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40963). The continued importance of hiring these personnel can explain, in part, the retention policies the United States, UK, Canada and Australia created over the past decade to keep their special forces personnel in uniform. Note the variety within PMSC teams as described in Robert Young Pelton, Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror, New York: Crown, 2006. For information on the relationship between PMSCs and special forces, see Christopher Spearin, 'Special Operations Forces a Strategic Resource: Public and Private Divides', Parameters, Vol.36, No.4, 2006/07, pp.58–70. To perform the sorts of tasks identified in the text, PMSC personnel must often meet citizenship requirements and must possess security clearances. David Batty, 'New Taps? Or Iraqi Security? East Europeans Answer the Call (Cheaply)', The Guardian, 17 Nov. 2008 (at: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/17/iraq-afghanistan-jobs/print); Jody Ray Bennett, 'Cheap Labor for Private Security', International Relations and Security Network, Security Watch, Zurich, 7 April 2009 (at: www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=98671). From February 2008 to February 2009 pay for expatriate personnel working for US government clients in Iraq fell by as much as 29 per cent. See Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 'Need to Enhance Oversight of Theatre-Wide Internal Security Services Contracts', SIGIR-09-017, 24 April 2009, p.5 (at: www.sigir.mil/files/audits/09-017.pdf). Cited in Bernd Debusmann, 'In Privatized US War, Foreigners Do Most of Dying', Reuters, 23 May 2007 (at: www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23195239.htm). Cited in David Pugliese, 'The Security Detail's Dirty Secret: Armies of Low-Wage Workers Form the Backbone of Private Military Contracting in Iraq', Ottawa Citizen, 13 Nov. 2005, p.B5. Tyler Bridges, 'Hired Guns Shrug Off War Risks in Iraq', Miami Herald, 31 July 2007 (at: www.privateforces.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1898). See Project on Government Oversight, 'Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul', 1 Sept. 2009 (at: www.pogo.org/pogo-files/letters/contract-oversight/co-gp-20090901.html#23); 'New Information about the Guard Force Contract at the U.S. Embassy In Kabul', US Senate, Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, p.5 (at: http://mccaskill.senate.gov/pdf/061009/StaffAnalysis.pdf); 'The Bureau of Diplomatic Security Baghdad Embassy Security Force – Performance Audit', US Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Office of Inspector General, Middle East Regional Office, Report Number MERO-A-10-05, March 2010, p.23 (at: http://pogoarchives.org/m/co/mero-ig-report-march2010.pdf); Richard Lardner, 'Panel Investigating Wartime Contracts Finds Private Guards Lack Essential Equipment, Training', Los Angeles Times, 26 April 2009 (at: www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-iraq-base-security,1,5977970.story). Building on this trend has been the rise of firms with either joint international/indigenous ownership or solely indigenous ownership. Although PMSC reliance upon local employees is not new, the issue became more prominent as the numbers increased. For a sense of the current scale, see Moshe Schwartz, 'Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis', US Congressional Research Service, 14 Dec. 2009, pp.10–11 (at: www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40764.pdf). See also Moshe Schwartz, 'The Department of Defense's Use of Private Security Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background, Analysis, and Options for Congress', Congressional Research Service, 19 Jan. 2010 (at: www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CRS_19Jan2010_DeptDefense_PrivateSecurityContractors_Iraq_Afghanistan.pdf). Eric Schmitt, 'Karzai Admits Helping Free Aide Accused of Graft', New York Times, 22 Aug. 2010 (at: www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/asia/23karzai.html?_r=2); Dion Nissenbaum and Hashim Shukoor, 'Afghan Plan to Shut Private Security Firms May Endanger Convoys', Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2010 (at: www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/16/1778628/afghan-plan-to-shut-private-security.html#ixzz0ww6JY57S). See also Christopher Spearin, 'What Manley Missed: The Human Security Implications of Private Security in Afghanistan', Human Security Bulletin, Vol.6, No.3, 2008, pp.8–11; Swiss Peace, 'Private Security Companies and Local Populations: An Exploratory Study of Afghanistan and Angola', Bern, 2007. The UN Security Council invoked Chapter VII of the Charter for the first time for the Somalia 'humanitarian' operation. The Unified Task Force mandate, determined by Security Council resolution 794, December 1992, allowed states to 'use all necessary means to establish as soon as possible to create a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations in Somalia'. 'Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations', 21 Aug. 2001 (at: www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/docs/summary.htm). See also Alex J. Bellamy and Paul D. Williams, Understanding Peacekeeping, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2nd edn, 2010, p.328. James R. Davis, Fortune's Warriors: Private Armies and the New World Order, Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000, p.129. See Elizabeth Rubin, 'An Army of One's Own', Harper's Magazine, Feb. 1997, pp. 44–55. David Shearer, 'Outsourcing War', Foreign Policy, No.112, 1998, pp.78–9. Consider also Fitzsimmons (see n.5 above), p.24. Cited in 'The Story of a Blackwater Recruit from Chile', Santiago Times, 15 Oct. 2007 (at: www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=14933&topic_id=15>&story_id=14933&topic_id=15). Cited in 'Fiji Men "Hired to Protect Assets"', Fiji Times (Nadi), 18 May 2007 (at: www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=62840). Cited in Steve Fainaru, 'Iraq Contractors Face Mounting Losses', Washington Post, 16 June 2007 (at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19256869/print/1/displaymode/1098/). Cited in Patrick Jerome Cullen, 'Private Security in International Politics: Deconstructing the State's Monopoly of Security Governance', unpublished PhD thesis, London School of Economics, 2009, p.152. 'Memorandum Number 17: Registration Requirements for Private Security Companies (PSC)', Coalition Provisional Authority, CPA/MEM/26, 17 June 2004, pp.7,10–11 (at: www.trade.gov/static/iraq_memo17.pdf); Walter Pincus, 'Contractor Hirings in Afghanistan to Emphasize Locals', Washington Post, 7 Dec. 2009 (at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/06/AR2009120602199.html?hpid=topnews); 'Contractor Support of U.S. Operations in USCENTCOM AOR, Iraq, and Afghanistan', May 2010 (at: www.acq.osd.mil/log/PS/p_vault/5A_May2010.doc); Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (see n.20 above), p.6. Cited in Alexander G. Higgins, 'US Rejects UN Mercenary Report', USA Today, 17 Oct. 2007 (at: www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-17-3392316246_x.htm). See Andrew Mayeda, 'MPs Seek Cost of Private Contractors', Ottawa Citizen, 26 Nov. 2007, p.A5; Gloria Galloway, '$8-Million, No Oversight', Globe and Mail (Toronto), 18 Nov. 2009, p.A1. Cited in Brian Brady, 'Britain Could Hire "Mercenaries" to Guard Bases in Combat Zones', The Independent, 6 July 2008 (at: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-could-hire-mercenaries-to-guard-bases-in-combat-zones-860882.html). 'Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights' (at: www.voluntaryprinciples.org/principles/private_security). See Cullen (n.36 above); Christopher Spearin, 'A Private Security Solution to Somali Piracy? The U.S. Call for Private Security Engagement and the Implications for Canada', Naval War College Review, Vol.63, No.4, 2010, pp. 56–71. For analysis of how firms might change the expectations of states, see Rita Abrahamsen and Michael C. Williams, 'Security Beyond the State: Global Security Assemblages in International Politics', International Political Sociology, Vol.3, No.1, 2009, p.14. For analysis of these proposals, see Peter Langille, 'Conflict Prevention: Options for Rapid Deployment and UN Standing Forces', International Peacekeeping, Vol.7, No.1, 2000, pp.219–53; James Fergusson and Barbara Levesque, 'The Best Laid Plans: Canada's Proposal for a United Nations Rapid Reaction Capability', Vol.52, No.1, 1996–97, pp.118–41. Malan (see n.11 above), p.115; Adam Roberts, 'Proposals for UN Standing Forces: A Critical History', in Lowe, Roberts, Welsh, and Zaum (eds) (see n.3 above), 2008, p.111; John Mueller, 'The Banality of Ethnic War', International Security, Vol.25, No.1, 2000, pp.42–70. Cited in Longsworth (see n.8 above), p.26. Gideon Rachman, 'Why the World Needs a United Nations Army', Financial Times, 20 July 2009 (at: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/325b3c42-7558-11de-9ed5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1). For these reports, see 'A Possible Role of Executive Outcomes (a Private Military Company, Now Disbanded) during the Rwanda Genocide of 1993/94' and 'Supporting the MONUC Mandate with Private Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo', International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) Operational Concept Paper, Jan. 2003, in author's possession. See Stephanie Hanes, 'Private Security Contractors Look to Africa for Recruits', Christian Science Monitor, 8 Jan. 2008, p.6; 'Brazil Prevents Hiring of Locals as Mercenaries in Iraq', 22 Feb. 2005 (at: www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B5C55C9C9-AEDB-48DA-B564-AC4363F662E7%7D&language=EN); Philip C. Jacobs, 'South Africa's New Counter-Mercenary Law', Strategic Review for Southern Africa, Vol.30, No.1, 2008, pp.71–95. For the most part, firms only have a limited number of permanent employees. Firms either make open recruiting calls in order to service a particular contract or they turn to their own personnel databases. For reasons related to cost and limited state tolerance, private personnel are not permanently 'barracked' nor are they 'standing'. Cited in Bennett (see n.20 above). 'Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies During Armed Conflict', 17 Sept. 2008, p.41 (at: www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/montreux-document-170908/$FILE/ICRC_002_0996.pdf). Ibid., pp.9,16,32,39. Ibid., p.25. Executive Outcomes website (at: web.archive.org/web/19981205152702/www.eo.com/about/p8.html). Jean-Marie Guéhenno, 'A Plan to Strengthen UN Peacekeeping', International Herald Tribune, 19 Apr. 2004, p.2.