Private Military and Security Companies in Africa and the Politics of International Law: Responsibility of Body Corporates
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Date
2024-06-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The thesis examines the politics surrounding the regulation of PMSCs, which exempts companies from criminal responsibility. In addition to using secondary sources of data, the interdisciplinary analysis made use of international critical legal scholars’ application of Article 38 of the ICJ statute. The findings of the research pointed out that the international community’s conflicting political interests, particularly the divergent interests of Western and non-Western states, are the primary explanation why PMSCs are allowed to operate with impunity. The thesis further disclosed that although there is a general consensus regarding the existence of international law requiring states (hiring or territorial) to regulate the operations of PMSCs and that failure to do so results in the attribution of the PMSC’s conduct to those states, the implementation of this law is inconsistent and seldom contradictory. Furthermore, it proved that home states should have been obliged by international law to regulate the operations of their PMSCs in order to effectively regulate PMSCs and put an end to the pervasive impunity they currently enjoy. The thesis claimed that in the unlikely event that an internationally binding agreement regulating PMSCs materializes, these companies will continue to violate human rights and operate with impunity.
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Private Military, Security Companies, Politics of International Law: