The Privatization of War: Mercenaries, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC)

[Magda Hassan]

Gee, wonder why the Foreign Office is dragging their heels? And how quaint to think this will mean any thing in making psychopaths and mercenaries behave themselves.

Geneva body to oversee security groups
By Nizar Manek in London


Security companies could face compensation bills and expulsion from a global industry body if they fail to police their employees' conduct, under a new agreement between companies, civil society groups and the UK and US governments.
Under the deal, finalised last month, an independent industry body will certify companies and rule on compensation claims against them for abuses such as bribery and killings.
The Geneva-based body, to be called the Private Security Service Providers' Association, is expected to initially oversee 592 companies from 70 countries that are already signatories to a voluntary code of conduct. These companies include G4S, Olive Group and smaller providers such as Middle East Security and Threat Management Group.
Industry members said signing up for PSSPA supervision would improve companies' chances of becoming preferred bidders for contracts in volatile regions in the wake of the recent terrorist attack on a gas plant in eastern Algeria.
The PSSPA will rely on companies to "co-operate in good faith" but has the right to launch its own investigations into companies' internal procedures and to monitor operations.
At least a third of the companies eligible for PSSPA membership are British and some of their clients including BHP Billiton, Total, and Marathon had lobbied for the certification process to look more practically at what operatives do on the ground.
But people close to the negotiations criticised the UK Foreign Office for failing to support these proposals. "There was a lack of leadership at the FCO [Foreign Office], who were content to go along with an industry-led certification process they tacked on to in December," one person said. A Foreign Office representative at the talks in Switzerland said: "We're not leading the process, we're facilitators. The FCO has been active throughout the process on getting a global agreement on an oversight mechanism."
Some rights campaigners have also warned of a lack of transparency in the PSSPA's claims process. Patricia Feeney of Raid, an Oxford-based watchdog, pointed out that if a security company breaches the code, those breaches would not be made public and "a gagging order" on compensation paid to victims was likely to be imposed.
The body is potentially a help to the UN, which up to now has had no formal system for screening the security companies it uses. Under UN hiring guidelines, it is not required to carry out independent screening.
A UN official said the rise in UN spending on security contractors made an oversight body essential but that the international organisation should still do its own checks. "The UN needs to do due diligence on what a company's chequered past may be. It otherwise expects the wolf to be the shepherd," he said.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/45a357ee-...z2PdeGw3AE