What do you know about private military companies and the controversy they cause worldwide?

With the many allegations about the hiring of mercenaries and private military companies by countries and governments to use them for dangerous military tasks internally and externally, curiosity about them and their missions has increased, as well as the controversy they cause at the global level.

Coinciding with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Western countries began quickly to reduce their national armies, and the habit of hiring mercenaries to complete dangerous military tasks appeared, but this time in the form of private military companies operating on many conflict areas accompanied by widespread debate about the extent of their commitment to the Hague and Geneva treaties.

And recently, the British newspaper "The Telegraph" indicated that the London administration is planning to use the Afghan commandos who were brought into the country after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan to embed mercenaries into the English army.

At the same time, allegations spread that the Russian "Wagner" group of special military missions, which is currently active in Libya, Syria and other undisclosed places, will sign an agreement with the government of Mali and elsewhere in the world to provide its military services.

Mercenaries between past and present

The news reported by the English newspaper is not a very surprising phenomenon for England, because the British army includes a special mercenary unit of Nepalese soldiers called "Gurkhas", dating back to the early 19th century. After the British were unable to defeat them and occupied Nepal in 1810, they offered them service in the British army with the special "Gurkhas" mercenary unit that served in the Persian Gulf in the coalition that occupied Iraq in 2003.

When the International Law of Armed Conflict was established, which prohibited the work of mercenaries, three exceptions were made to it, one for the "Gorcas" division serving in the British army, the other for the Legionnaires serving within the French army, and the third for the Swiss mercenary unit serving in the Vatican.

Although the use of mercenaries is prohibited except under these three exceptions, the same does not apply to PMCs. While people are prohibited from selling their private services for the purpose of making money under international law, there is no obstacle to establishing and selling PMCs.

Because the concepts of the private military company and mercenaries are completely different from each other, we hear about the emergence of military companies on a continuous basis, most notably: (Blackwater), (Kellog Brown & Root| KBR) and (DynCorp) used by the Americans, in addition to the Russian (Wagner).

What are the types of private military companies?

Private military companies are companies committed to performing different military functions, and they are divided into three types. The first is private military companies that provide combat services on the ground, the second is a private military consultancy company whose main tasks are consulting and training, and the third is companies that specialize in private military logistics.

There are many reasons why states and governments hire such companies, the most important of which is the great political cost that occurs when regular soldiers die on the territory of other countries and in tasks not related to the national security of the country in question. One of the most prominent examples of this happened during the battles of Fallujah in Iraq, where the death of any American soldier had an earthquake in American public opinion and cost politicians great losses, so the US government at the time resorted to increasing reliance on private military companies to stop the bleeding of electoral votes.

On the other hand, countries and governments lease private military companies as an alternative shortcut so that they do not have to invest in their military infrastructure more than necessary, because the financial cost of such companies is relatively low.

Wide controversy!

The desire for material gains can go in a very immoral direction during the participation of these companies in military conflicts, because their employees are not bound by any values ​​or systems, unlike regular soldiers, for whom killing is their last resort, in addition to the fact that bringing peace is their last end and aspirations.

There is often a debate about how to punish this type of companies for war crimes and violations committed during armed conflicts, and there is a large gap in international law on this issue, because the Geneva Conventions do not contain any sufficient regulations to hold these companies accountable.

In conjunction with the increase in the number of private military companies and their increasing desire to ignite new conflicts, experts believe that the international community should expedite the enactment of laws and regulations to curb this phenomenon before it reaches levels that are difficult to return from.