UN Use of Private Military and Security Companies

Abstract

In recent years influential member states have urged the United Nations (UN) for greater efficiency, often calling for market‐oriented solutions. As a result, the United Nations has increasingly expanded and intensified its relationship with the private sector.1 The trend is illustrated by a rapid scaling up of public‐private partnerships and increased outsourcing of tasks in most entities of the UN family. Testimony to this trend, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which conducts procurements for a wide range of UN projects, for the first time in 2009 reported spending more procuring services than goods.2 The provision of security services is not exempt from these developments. Accordingly, private military and security companies (PMSCs) are among the many commercial partners of the United Nations. PMSCs form part of a growing transnational market for force which exists alongside, and is intertwined with, governmental and intergovernmental actors. The existence of such companies is not a new phenomenon, but it is a lesser known fact that some of them have been present in most UN operations since the 1990s. Indeed, some companies have a history of working with the United Nations which dates back decades. Of late, the private military and security industry increasingly offers services that penetrate some of the core activities and tasks of the United Nations and is eager to supplement the tasks often performed by UN organisations in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, political missions or as part of regular country office work. The practice of the United Nations buying PMSC services is, however, rarely a topic open to discussion, and there has been little public acknowledgement of it whatsoever. The controversial nature of the issue appears to have coherent PMSC contracting practices.3 Whether the initiative, once it has been finalised, will in fact resonate and be welcomed throughout the multifaceted organisation is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, placing the issue on the agenda is crucial, as the lack of coherence and consistency across the UN system regarding this politically very sensitive issue could create several problems for the organisation, including damage to UN legitimacy, legal liability issues, additional risks to the United Nations and its personnel within operating environments and weakening perceptions of UN impartiality. The current incoherence could also not only serve to securitise or militarise operations, but may encourage concealment of a practice which urgently needs international political discussion.4 Whether PMSCs constitute a menace or a blessing has been a matter of contentious debate. This paper does not discuss the potential contribution of PMSCs to peace, security or other UN objectives. Instead, it looks at how some parts of the UN system make use of these companies and tries to trace the demand to internal and external challenges. Furthermore, the paper addresses whether there are established guidelines or policies governing PMSC use in different parts of the organisation, whether practices comply with them, or if PMSCs are used more as ad hoc ‘band‐aids’ in response to extreme operating environments. In this process, the paper also looks into where in the UN organisational system, and based on what credentials, decisions to hire PMSCs are made. Hopefully, this will elucidate some of the different perspectives of PMSC contracting and their rationales.