The responsibility of the PMSC’s home state for human rights violations arising from the export of private military and security services

Abstract

Departing from the contemporary trend favourable to the re-conceptualisation of human rights in terms of obligations of non state actors, this paper argues that and effective compliance with international human right standards by private military and security companies can be achieved by a complementary use of principles of state responsibility, in particular of responsibility of the home state of the company, and of the criteria (territory-jurisdiction) that determine the substantive scope of application of the human rights obligations with respect to the prevention and remediation of possible abuses by private contractors. On the basis of an analysis of the relevant international law and practice, this paper attempts to offer a preliminary identification of the regulatory standards required to promote compliance with human rights by the emerging transnational military-security industry.