Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the perils and benefits of
outsourcing UN peacekeeping to private military companies (PMCs). In particular, it offers a tentative
answer to the following intriguing and, as the cases of Rwanda and Darfur suggest, extremely relevant
question: Are private military companies capable of taking on some of the proliferating international
peacekeeping functions in a way that would be consistent with the primary objective of the UN
Charter “to save the future generations from scourge of war”?
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In order to answer this question, I first address the definitional dilemmas inherent to the study
of private military actors, followed by a review of three recent perspectives on the use of PMCs in/for
peacekeeping operations. I then offer my own analysis of this issue, beginning with a detailed
examination of the various activities that have been performed by PMCs since the end of the cold war,
focusing on past examples of PMCs performing various peacekeeping tasks. I then compare these
activities with the functions that have been commonly performed by UN peacekeepers in the same
period. Since this comparison reveals that there has been some overlap of functions that PMCs and
UN peacekeepers performed in the past, I proceed to discuss the key question of this paper, i.e.,
whether or not PMCs are capable of performing at least some peacekeeping functions in a way that
would be consistent with the primary objectives of the UN. Finally, I offer some conclusions and
observations regarding the use of PMCs for peacekeeping missions as an alternative option for
bridging the current UN peacekeeping capabilities-expectations gap.
Definitions: Who are PMCs?
Although both private individuals and private companies have been involved in the conduct of
war for centuries, there is neither a universally accepted definition of mercenarism, nor much of a
consensus about the legal status of private military corporations in international humanitarian law.
Three widely accepted criteria have, nevertheless, traditionally been used for defining mercenaries:
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Charter of the United Nations: Preamble.
Convention