Private Security and Military Companies under the International Law of Armed Conflict

Abstract

The increasing involvement of private security and military companies in scenarios of international and non-international armed conflict requires an accurate determination of their status under international humanitarian law. Every employee of such a company who is deployed to an environment of armed conflict is extremely vulnerable to becoming a victim of belligerent action. Moreover, as far as they are authorized to carry arms or to work as contractors alongside the armed forces of a party to the conflict, they run a high risk of violating the law of armed conflict themselves.