Topic: 2024-Private Military Contractors
Country: Sweden
Delegate Name: Luke Roberts
Military contractors and mercenaries have existed for thousands of years. These groups provide military support, while getting significant compensation for their actions. While these groups had a dip in use across the early to mid-20th century, private militaries have grown common in modern war zones, being used frequently in the Middle East throughout the 21st century. PMCs have grown quite large and powerful, with the ability to be incredibly capable for a price. While these forces are competent, they have used excessive violence before, breaking international law and causing harm to civilians. However, due to their curious legal situation, they have received little to no persecution for their crimes.
In acknowledgement of Sweden’s population being 90th in the world, there are certain militaristic limitations due to the number of personnel that can be used at one time. The lesser number of troops Sweden can provide relative to larger countries puts Sweden at a disadvantage in providing military and humanitarian aid across the world. PMCs can help bolster the size of Sweden’s military. This raises the number of troops Sweden can provide along with allowing more humanitarian aid due to the increase in on-ground personnel. These groups have proven to complete military assignments along with doing it at a lower price rate than that of typical soldiers.
While there are benefits to utilizing these PMCs, there is no price to pay for civilian lives. There are concerns with these PMCs in regards to the murky legal area that they operate in. They have been accused of various crimes, however they continue to go unpersecuted. There have been attempts to address this issue. The Montreux document in particular emphasized the need for private militaries in combat zones to follow international laws. It addressed concerns with these groups and allowed limitations to be exercised on them. Concerns with military contractors have already been put in place, and they have already been limited in scope of impact on local conflict areas. Sweden proposes strengthening various international laws to allow the persecution of these groups for their crimes.
While more limitations can be put in place to prevent infringements on human rights, private military groups are essential in conflicts and are already limited in scope. Sweden understands the concerns with PMCs, however, Sweden believes that private militaries provide important services while also strengthening global peace and prosperity. Certain limitations on PMCs are important to limiting their impact on civilians and local governments, however fully eliminating them is unnecessary and irresponsible due to their current positive effect on global peace.
