Recommendations on future actions to improve regulation of PMSCs
As was shown in the Report, the existing national legislation and international humanitarian and criminal law regulating private providers of defense, military and security services activities, and especially the practice of their implementation, are entirely insufficient. They must be improved having in mind peculiarities of PMSCs and a real need of the civil society and international community to have the services of the PMSCs at their disposal. But it is a very difficult and delicate task. It should be carried out with the support of the PMSC industry, step by step, and taking on board the existing good practices and a large variety of ideas previously advanced by scholars, research centers, governmental and nongovernmental organizations. It is a kind of a message enshrined in the Report.
The key proposal substantiated in it is to convene a tripartite international conference under the auspices of the United Nations composed of representatives of states, PMSC industry and civil society to build a consensus on common PMSCs standards and appropriate duties, to be embodied at a later stage in an effective internationally supervised regulatory framework[29].
Essential elements of such a framework may be described like that[30].
1. A clear-cut distinction is made between PMSCs performing only "police-like" security functions within domestic peacetime contexts, PMSCs giving non-force support to armed forces, PMSCs providing services requiring the threat of use of force and PMSCs acting in areas of insecurity or armed conflict.
2. A sophisticated international vetting system is approved. It is composed of national vetting systems and exchange of relevant information among interested states through an international criminal record network. The Europol and Interpol are likely to be instrumental. But other solutions could be found as well.
3. Compatible national licensing systems are introduced everywhere applying similar requirements as far as the definition of PMSCs, their duties, training of personal, and etc. are concerned, with due account for the environmental context in which PMSCs operate.
4. An international PMSC "Information Clearing House" is established to provide a centralized location for registration of PMSCs and to increase transparency regarding them, their personnel, missions and practices.
5. A "PMSCs export regime" is created. It is aligned with the existing arms export regimes and broadens them. One of its aims is to prevent using PMSCs for provoking, escalating and prolonging armed conflicts, tensions or unrest.
6. An office of the international PMSC Ombudsman is instituted to process complaints from the stakeholders regarding PMSCs services and general public concerning their wrongdoings, to pass them, if needed, to competent bodies for further investigation and settlement, and to monitor their fate.
7. An international PMSC Court of Arbitration is founded as a special dispute resolution mechanism. Its decisions are backed by national courts and judgments implementation systems.
8. A "Code of PMSC Conduct and Business Practices", directly applicable to PMSCs internal functioning and external activities, is elaborated.
9. Oversight and investigatory, as well as enforcement, procedures and mechanisms are set up to hold accountable those persons and entities who violate human rights and international humanitarian law obligations.
10. A new international convention on PMSCs or an additional protocol to the International Criminal Court Statute for PMSC crimes is signed. This new instrument breaks away from the negative associations with the UN Mercenary Convention. It sets forth common international standards for PMSCs duties and determines crimes for which PMSCs, their owners and personnel should bear criminal responsibility. It constitutes a new body, similar to the ICC, or gives the ICC jurisdiction to process suits against PMSCs.