- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Table of Treaties, Legislation, and Other International Instruments
- Table of Reports and Other Documents
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Policy Prospects for Regulating Private Military and Security Companies
- 2 The Use of Private Contractors in the Fight against Piracy: Policy Options
- 3 The Role of Human Rights in the Regulation of Private Military and Security Companies
- 4 The Impact of the EU Human Rights System on Operations of Private Military and Security Companies
- 5 The Role of the Home State in Ensuring Compliance with Human Rights by Private Military Contractors
- 6 Positive Human Rights Obligations of the Hiring State in Connection with the Provision of ‘Coercive Services’ by a Private Military or Security Company
- 7 Duties to Prevent, Investigate, and Redress Human Rights Violations by Private Military and Security Companies: The Role of the Host State
- 8 Adjudicating Human Rights Violations Committed by Private Contractors in Conflict Situations before the European Court of Human Rights
- 9 The Right to Life and Self-defence of Private Military and Security Contractors in Armed Conflict
- 10 Status of Private Military and Security Company Personnel in the Law of International Armed Conflict
- 11 Private Military and Security Contractors as ‘Persons who Accompany the Armed Forces’
- 12 Private Military and Security Companies in Non-international Armed Conflicts: <i>Ius ad Bellum</i> and <i>Ius in Bello</i> Issues
- 13 Children's Rights: The Potential Impact of Private Military and Security Companies
- 14 Women and Private Military and Security Companies
- 15 Private Military and Security Companies and the EU's Crisis Management: Perspectives under Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
- 16 Old Concepts and New Challenges
- 17 The Role of International Regulatory Initiatives on Business and Human Rights for Holding Private Military and Security Contractors to Account
- 18 Codes of Conduct for Private Military and Security Companies
- 19 Institutional Responsibility for Private Military and Security Companies
- 20 State Responsibility for Conduct of Private Military and Security Companies Violating <i>Ius ad Bellum</i>
- 21 The Criminal Responsibility of Private Military and Security Company Personnel under International Humanitarian Law
- 22 Immunity for Private Military Contractors: Legal Hurdles or Political Snags?
- 23 Liability in Tort of Private Military and Security Companies: Jurisdictional Issues and Applicable Law
- Bibliography
- Index
The Right to Life and Self-defence of Private Military and Security Contractors in Armed Conflict
The Right to Life and Self-defence of Private Military and Security Contractors in Armed Conflict
- Chapter:
- (p.171) 9 The Right to Life and Self-defence of Private Military and Security Contractors in Armed Conflict
- Source:
- War by Contract
- Author(s):
Guido den Dekker
Eric PJ Myjer
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter is concerned with the right to life of private military and security contractors and its protection though personal self-defence in armed conflict. After analysing the right to life, and self-defence, in international human rights, humanitarian, and criminal law, it argues that private contractors cannot be denied through their contracts a right to carry and use firearms for lawful self-defence when the fulfillment of the contract in the operational area is life-threatening. If that situation is foreseeable or known to arrive, states can fulfill a ‘due diligence’ obligation to prevent unlawful, arbitrary killing of private contractors by allowing them arms for defensive purposes not amounting to a direct participation in the hostilities. However, the same considerations as well as the state monopoly on the use of force imply that states should in fact refrain from outsourcing tasks which require private contractors to be armed.
Keywords: arbitrary killing, arms, self-defence, armed conflict, right to life, due diligence, state monopoly
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Table of Treaties, Legislation, and Other International Instruments
- Table of Reports and Other Documents
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Policy Prospects for Regulating Private Military and Security Companies
- 2 The Use of Private Contractors in the Fight against Piracy: Policy Options
- 3 The Role of Human Rights in the Regulation of Private Military and Security Companies
- 4 The Impact of the EU Human Rights System on Operations of Private Military and Security Companies
- 5 The Role of the Home State in Ensuring Compliance with Human Rights by Private Military Contractors
- 6 Positive Human Rights Obligations of the Hiring State in Connection with the Provision of ‘Coercive Services’ by a Private Military or Security Company
- 7 Duties to Prevent, Investigate, and Redress Human Rights Violations by Private Military and Security Companies: The Role of the Host State
- 8 Adjudicating Human Rights Violations Committed by Private Contractors in Conflict Situations before the European Court of Human Rights
- 9 The Right to Life and Self-defence of Private Military and Security Contractors in Armed Conflict
- 10 Status of Private Military and Security Company Personnel in the Law of International Armed Conflict
- 11 Private Military and Security Contractors as ‘Persons who Accompany the Armed Forces’
- 12 Private Military and Security Companies in Non-international Armed Conflicts: <i>Ius ad Bellum</i> and <i>Ius in Bello</i> Issues
- 13 Children's Rights: The Potential Impact of Private Military and Security Companies
- 14 Women and Private Military and Security Companies
- 15 Private Military and Security Companies and the EU's Crisis Management: Perspectives under Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
- 16 Old Concepts and New Challenges
- 17 The Role of International Regulatory Initiatives on Business and Human Rights for Holding Private Military and Security Contractors to Account
- 18 Codes of Conduct for Private Military and Security Companies
- 19 Institutional Responsibility for Private Military and Security Companies
- 20 State Responsibility for Conduct of Private Military and Security Companies Violating <i>Ius ad Bellum</i>
- 21 The Criminal Responsibility of Private Military and Security Company Personnel under International Humanitarian Law
- 22 Immunity for Private Military Contractors: Legal Hurdles or Political Snags?
- 23 Liability in Tort of Private Military and Security Companies: Jurisdictional Issues and Applicable Law
- Bibliography
- Index
