Urgent action needed to combat and control arms trafficking and use by mercenaries and related actors: UN experts

GENEVA (12 September 2024) – Concerted efforts and urgent action by states is required to end the trafficking, proliferation and use of arms by mercenaries, mercenary-related, and private military and security actors, independent human rights experts said today.

A report presented to the Human Rights Council by the Working Group on the use of mercenaries highlights a discernible shift in the dynamics of warfare in the diversification and proliferation of actors engaged in conflicts and the availability and type of arms, ammunition and weaponry used. The report concludes that there is an increasing connection between mercenaries, mercenary-related and private military and security actors, and the trafficking and proliferation of arms.

Despite this alarming trend causing significant human suffering, global military expenditure continues to surge.

“Weapons continue to flow to some of the most brutal armed conflicts today, resulting in egregious harm and human suffering to civilians,” the experts said. “Prolonged armed conflicts, undermine peace processes, destabilise regions and most concerningly, perpetuate wide-ranging atrocities and human rights violations, including but not limited to acts of terrorism, arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

In this context, the recruitment, training, financing and use of mercenaries, mercenary-related and private military and security actors continues amid escalating and evolving conflicts.

Mercenaries, mercenary-related and private military and security actors have been known to deliver military and security services, with their scope of operations ranging from recruitment, logistical assistance, training, counsel, arms procurement and direct on-the-ground combat.

The report examines four main ways in which mercenaries, mercenary-related actors, and private military and security companies are connected to the legal and illicit arms trade namely through: State supply of arms via State sponsorship, contracting and/or re-routing; illegal sale or seizure of State stockpiles and armouries, also known as ‘diversion’; illegal, criminal and opaque brokering networks, shell companies and intermediaries; and illicit channels from and between mercenaries, mercenary-related actors, and private military and security companies themselves and/or combatants.

Unlike the trade in most other goods, arms transfers exact a deadly toll. Ensuring that arms are not diverted to such actors is a critical challenge in arms control.

“Sadly, the existing regulatory frameworks overseeing this phenomenon still need strengthening to monitor and prevent diversion of arms to mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and security companies,” the experts said.

Thus, the regulation of military and security services that often accompany weapons sales such as arms brokers, arms transportation agents or the activities of mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and security companies should be addressed as a matter of priority at the domestic, regional and international level.

The Working Group also presented findings from their country visit to Cote d’Ivoire (2024) to the Human Rights Council.