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Sié Chéou-Kang CenterPrivate Security Monitor

A trainer gives a motivational speech to Afghan soldiers in the NATO weapons training classroom.

Regional Initiatives

Though many regional organizations have the authority to propose security policies and foster security-sector cooperation among member states, few have sought to regulate the activities of PMSCs. Rather, most PMSC regulation at the regional level occurs through the application of pre-existing mechanisms such as arms export laws, human rights standards, and prohibitions on small arms trafficking and transnational crime. Because these legal and regulatory mechanisms bear on the conduct of PMSCs, they appear below, organized by issuing entity.

African Union and ECOWAS

The African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are two inter-governmental organizations in Africa that are engaged in security sector reform and governance. In 2002 the AU replaced the Organization for African Unity (OAU), which, in 1977 drafted the Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa. The Convention entered into force in April 1985 after ratification by the requisite number of states. Other attempts to combat mercenaries or regulate private security on the African continent have been at the national level or informal, such as information-sharing among governments. 

There was a problem returning the records.

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a group of former Soviet Republics, serves as a forum for state cooperation on issues of economic reform, defense and foreign policy. In 2005, the Defence and Security Commission of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly adopted a model law "On Countering Mercenarism." 

There was a problem returning the records.

European Union and Council of Europe

Although at the EU level there are as yet no specific laws or regulations with respect to the private military and security industry, the various EU institutions have been involved in recent years in developing policies towards them.

Organization of American States

With elevated and sustained growth levels of the private security industry in Latin America countries, the Organization of American States takes initiative to establish the need for regulatory legal frameworks that set forth processes and clearly-defined responsibilities for the industry and the government sector and further consolidate government entities to regulate public spending in security.