Legal Status Of Mercenaries And Irregular Forces

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essay examines the legal status of a mercenary by firstly looking at the history of mercenaries, the problems in the definition, the status they now acquire, because of the enactment of certain conventions and the protections afforded to them under international humanitarian law.
With regard to irregular forces, this essay cites the Taliban as an example, and states the history of the Taliban and how they consider themselves to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Focus is laid down on the war in Iraq and on how the American’s have perceived the Taliban in their eyes. This is considered because of the Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo bay. The main issue with regard to the protection of these forces lies in the fact that they were not recognized by many countries, and did not fulfill the conditions of distinction in an armed conflict and hence questions, arise with regard to their status of prisoners of war. Attention has been laid on the various viewpoints of several ...

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by a majority of nations. Morton and Jones state that, in more recent times, mercenaries have been involved in roles such as providing ‘troops with training, providing advice of a technical nature and weapons procurement’ which is a major contrast, as compared to its ‘traditional role of waging war’. The international community now began to realize the impact of mercenaries and in consequence, began to denounce the practice of hiring them. Probably one of the most important periods in time which led to this shift was in the 1960’s and 1970’s, particularly in Congo, where mercenaries were hired to destabilize the new African race. According to Hinds this led to a new element in ...

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