More recently, in 2020, at least several hundred mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group are fighting alongside the warlord, General Khalifa Haftar, whom the Russian government supports. [182] Wagner Group mercenaries arrived in Libya in late 2019. [183] The Wagner group distinguished itself as snipers, and one of the results of their arrival was a rapid increase in the number of snipers killed on the enemy side holding Tripoli. [183] In response, the Turkish government hired 2,000 Syrian mercenaries to fight for the opposing faction it supports in the Libyan civil war. [182] The rise of clandestine private warfare in the middle of the century led to Geneva Protocols I and II in 1977, which banned mercenaries. The main objection is that they were stateless warriors, fighting for money rather than national ideology. The most widely used definition of mercenary in international law derives from article 47 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which provides that arguments against changing the definition of “defence service” in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations may range from substantive concerns to technical objections. First, some may ask, shouldn‘t the main objective be to adopt a separate law incorporating the United Nations Mercenary Convention into national legislation to prohibit mercenary activities (or follow the example of France or Germany)? It was preferable to enact a new law prohibiting or restricting mercenaries rather than resorting to administrative or regulatory procedures. For example, look at the number of U.S. Penal Code laws passed to comply with other UN resolutions or treaties, such as: those that prohibit the production and use of biological and chemical weapons. Later, in 1966 and 1967, former Tshombéan mercenaries and Katangese gendarmes organized the mercenary mutinies. The company has never fully trusted the loyalty of its sepoys.
[97] The company had its own officers‘ school at the Addiscombe Military Seminary. The armies of the company were trained in the Western style and by the end of the 18th century their troops were considered equal to any European army. [98] Simply put, a mercenary is an armed civilian paid for military operations in a foreign conflict zone. For example, civilians who carry out direct actions or train troops in foreign conflict zones are mercenaries because they perform unique military functions. Federal Express, a courier company that delivers a package to Kabul during the war in Afghanistan, is not a mercenary company because logistical supply is not an exclusively military task. Only privatized military tasks deserve the label of “mercenaries”. How did we get here? Certainly, the world‘s only superpower does not need leased weapons. It has it all: the best troops, training, technology, equipment and resources. But he doesn‘t have the will, and that‘s why he turns to military contractors. Outsourcing allows bloodless wars, at least from the customer‘s point of view. Like super technology, mercenaries are a crutch for a nation that wants to fight but doesn‘t want to bleed.
This did not happen intentionally, but rather by chance. There has been an unexpected collision between U.S. domestic politics and the purely voluntary military, a source of national pride. When the U.S. entered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House assumed they would be brief conflicts. “Five days, five weeks or five months, but it certainly won‘t take any longer,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on the eve of the Iraq war. The U.S. military can “get the job done and finish it quickly.” 25 More than a decade later, America is still entangled in both places, unwilling to admit defeat but unable to claim victory. 11 examples of major battles are Weißer Berg (1620), Breitenfeld (1631), Lützen (1632), Nördlingen (1634), Wittstock (1636) and Rocroi (1643). The armies consisted mainly of foreign mercenaries. For example, the majority of the Swedish army were mercenaries, a considerable number, since Sweden was a military superpower at the time and King Gustavus Adolphus was one of the great innovators of maneuver warfare.
In the Battle of Breitenfeld, the Swedish army was only 20% Swedes, in the Battle of Lutzen it was 18%. It was typical of the time. See Geoffrey Parker, Europe in Crisis, 1598–1648 (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2001), p. 17. Around the same time, Niccolò Machiavelli, in his book of political advice The Prince, opposed the use of mercenary armies. His reasoning was that since the only motivation of mercenaries is their salary, they will not be inclined to take the kind of risks that can turn the tide of a battle, but they can cost them their lives. He also noted that a mercenary who failed was obviously not good, but a successful mercenary could be even more dangerous. He astutely pointed out that a successful mercenary army no longer needs its employer if it is militarily more powerful than its supposed superior. This explains the frequent and violent betrayal that characterized the relations between mercenaries and clients in Italy, since neither side trusted the other. He believed that citizens with a real connection to their homeland would be more motivated to defend it and thus make much better soldiers. The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries (United Nations Mercenary Convention) entered into force in 2001.
As noted during the debate on this resolution, the Convention represented an important effort by the international community to limit the harm and injury used by foreign fighters to support violent conflicts for civilian populations. In many ways, this is analogous to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which, among other things, prohibits piracy, whether sponsored by the State or by irregular supporters. The United Nations Mercenary Convention states that the use and financing of mercenaries in armed conflict is a criminal offence. The United States, Russia and China have not ratified the treaty, which has been ratified by 35 member states. The United States did not ratify the treaty in part because it believed that previous UN protocols and resolutions on the subject contained different, if not contradictory, definitions and possible applications. In addition, some countries argued that private military companies should fall under the definition of mercenary. Finally, given that only 35 countries have ratified the Convention, the question arises whether its ratification would have a substantial and significant effect on the creation of a recognized norm of international law. As a result, the U.S. government may have simply decided that inaction was the best way forward, at least until a majority of other countries (and major powers) agreed to ban mercenaries. [Simon Mann], the British leader of a group of 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, was sentenced to seven years in prison. The other passengers were jailed for 12 months for violating immigration laws, while the two pilots were sentenced to 16 months.
The court also ordered the seizure of Mann‘s Boeing 727, worth $3 million and $180,000 found on board. The law that applies most to individual mercenaries is the Arms Export Control Act (“AECA,” 22 U.S.C.