Unrecognized by the Kremlin, these Russian fighters are reportedly employed by the Wagner Group – a private military company with close ties to Vladimir Putin and a history of deploying on the front lines the most controversial and destructive advances in Russia`s foreign policy: from covert support for the Assad regime in Syria to facilitating Russia`s annexation of Crimea in 2014. In keeping with this legacy, Central African mercenaries have helped investors gain control of valuable natural resources and subjected journalists, peacekeepers and civilians to mass executions, torture, sexual violence, looting and harassment. When many Russian mercenaries suddenly left Central Africa in February 2022, it became clear that they had been diverted to Ukraine. Almost all private soldiers belong to former soldiers or a national police force because of their required training and relevant experience, such as Sean McFate`s work for private contractors in Africa, having previously served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. The definition of mercenary does not cover the full spectrum of PMC activities, as it refers only to recruitment to fight without addressing the grey area of security missions, where armed force is not used for combat, but for defence or security. For example, the responsibility for the security of a military commander may go beyond normal security and self-defence activities and reach the point of direct participation in hostilities. The concept of direct participation in hostilities used by IHL to separate civilians from combatants is therefore more relevant to the description and regulation of PMC activities. The usefulness of Wagner as a consumable and undeniable tool of Prigozhin`s public-private partnership with the Kremlin was demonstrated again in Mozambique in 2019.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi visited Russia in August 2019 and signed agreements with Putin on mining and energy exploration, as well as defense and security cooperation. Wagner`s staff were sent to Mozambique next month to quell an Islamist uprising against the government in the north of the country, where there are large natural gas deposits. Russian PMC personnel were reportedly ill-prepared and trained for this campaign, suffered casualties and made no progress against the uprising. According to some reports, Wagner withdrew from Mozambique in March. The Kremlin has denied that Russian “soldiers” were involved. In 1776, the Second Continental Congress listed in the Declaration of Independence a complaint against King George III, who stated: “He has made the army independent and superior to civilian power.” [cii] The expansion of the UCMJ`s jurisdiction in 2006 comes dangerously close to this, subjecting civilians to military jurisdiction in situations on the eve of declared war. Marc Lindemann writes in the service magazine Parameters that “the change has reversed the concept of civilian control of the military, as Congress has actually placed more than 100,000 civilians under the jurisdiction of military tribunals.” [ciii] This change in jurisprudence is too broad and should be declared unconstitutional or replaced by new legislation such as the one described above. According to the new version of 10 USC 802(a)(10), whenever an emergency operation is underway anywhere in the world, most civilians working nearby or for the military can be scanned by the UCMJ. This clearly contradicts the Milligan ex parte judgment and the long American tradition of trying U.S. citizens in Article III courts where Article III jurisdiction is available. It makes little sense for the U.S. to try to fill a perceived skills gap in a way that tramples on the rights of U.S.
citizens, many of whom may not even be members of private military contractors. These SMPs need to be more strictly regulated as they serve as the public face of America abroad. They are therefore overseas Americans who are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the Geneva Conventions, American law or local law. They exist essentially in a legal vacuum. That`s. The SMP industry offers a wide range of services, with some companies employing more than ten thousand people. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military relied on private military contractors and private security companies for activities ranging from logistical support to guard duties and training, such as building military bases and preparing food for the military, security of U.S. military bases, and weapons management. and the formation of new Iraqi military and police forces. In March 2011, the U.S.
Department of Defense said it had more contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq (155,000) than uniformed personnel (145,000). In both countries, entrepreneurs accounted for 52 percent of the U.S. workforce. According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, private contractors make up 29 percent of the U.S. intelligence community`s workforce and cost the equivalent of 49 percent of their personnel budget. [6] The services of private contractors are used worldwide. P. W. Singer, author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatised Military Industry, says: “Geographically, it operates in more than 50 different countries. It operates on all continents except Antarctica. Singer says that in the 1990s, for every 1 contractor, there were 50 military personnel, and now the ratio is 10 to 1. He also points out that these contractors have a number of tasks depending on who hires them.
In developing countries that have natural resources, such as oil refineries in Iraq, they are hired to guard the region. They are also hired to protect companies that commission services and reconstruction efforts, such as General Electric. In addition to securing businesses, they secure government officials and partners. Private military companies perform many different missions and tasks. Examples include Afghan President Hamid Karzai`s close security and the control of reconnaissance planes and helicopters under Plan Colombia. [3] [4] According to a 2003 study, the SMP industry was worth more than $100 billion a year at the time. [5] Some might argue that PMCs are indeed modern mercenaries and are therefore bound by the rules of engagement of the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention. Article 47 provides that mercenaries may not be combatants or prisoners of war. However, PMCs will argue that they are not mercenaries and have a much broader involvement in conflicts. They will pretend that they are not in direct hostilities and that if they make war, it is only defensive actions.
If this is true, there is no law that directly regulates the actions of SGPs. Within current RMS, there is no mechanism to punish crimes committed by individual employees beyond internal investigation and dismissal. Conversely, individual defence forces performing essentially the same tasks face military justice when they commit similar crimes.
