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Individual Liability of Private Military Personnel under International Criminal Law
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1831-4066
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EUI AEL; 2009/04; PRIV-WAR Project
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LEHNARDT, Chia, Individual Liability of Private Military Personnel under International Criminal Law, EUI AEL, 2009/04, PRIV-WAR Project - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/11405
Abstract
The article examines the present status of private military personnel under international criminal law.
Perpetrators of international crimes are frequently integrated into a hierarchically structured collective,
such as an army or police force. The system of order and obedience essential to the functioning of
these entities, the existence of which underlies a number of principles of international criminal law,
cannot be simply presumed to exist within a private military company (PMC) or between a PMC and
the hiring state. As a consequence, the private nature of the company may become an issue,
particularly when one considers the capacity of their personnel to commit war crimes or to incur
superior or command responsibility. The article also considers problems of implementation and
jurisdiction and touches briefly on the question of corporate criminal responsibility of the PMC itself.
It will be argued that, in theory, international criminal law can be an efficient part of the legal regime
governing the use and conduct of private military companies, although many of the legal issues
discussed remain to be tested.
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The ‘Regulating Privatisation of “War”: The Role of the EU in Assuring the Compliance with International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights” (PRIV-WAR) project is funded by the European Community’s 7th Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 217405.