Topic: Status of Defense Contractors and Non-National Combatants
Country: United Kingdom
Delegate Name: Matthew Pinos
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All United Kingdom position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
The United Kingdom believes that it is crucial to ensure that all nations adhere to a rigid, yet cogent and fair international standard with regards to unlawful combatants and the capture of private defense contractors. Currently, the United Kingdom recognizes the difficulty and subjectivity inherent in holding unlawful combatants accountable for their actions. Protocol 1, an amendment to the Geneva Conventions that has created ethical and responsible guidelines with respect to the treatment of non-national combatants, has been ratified by 167 countries; however, it has still yet to garner the vote of many, most notably the United States of America. Protocol 1 has been unofficially accepted as customary legal statute throughout the world; however, the lack of official recognition amongst several of the most powerful nations in the world has unfortunately made it very difficult to ensure that they treat unlawful combatants with a proper degree of dignity. Additionally, the ambiguity in international statute regarding unofficial combatants creates a subjective enforcement of the law, with the United States and other nations routinely denoting perceived threats as “illegal combatants”, while it hires unofficial contractors to wage its battles in other nations.
Article 44 of Protocol 1 has given virtually all combatants, legal or not, a status equivalent to “prisoner of war” for the duration of battle. Under this amendment, no prior acts of wrongdoing can cause a combatant to forfeit his rights as allocated to all prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions so long as he carries his arms openly during combat and during all times when he is within sight of his adversary. The United Kingdom believes that in order to ensure that humanity is more secure it is necessary to detain those who may potentially threaten peace; however, a code of ethics and regulations with respect to what nations can do to combatants must be universally accepted in order to protect human rights. The protocol will also guarantee that all combatants are granted a trial in accordance with the principles established by international law.
Currently, nations that have not ratified the protocol have retained broad powers to detain whomever they please while not holding their own contractors accountable to international standards. The vagueness in the law regarding combatants has only one realistic solution: universality of the ideal of fairness and principled treatment of detained men, women and children. The UK believes that only when the United States and other nations ratify this treaty will any progress be made. Ensuring that every hegemonic power grants prisoners liberties and privileges will be a requisite to check abuse of power by fiscal or militaristic means.
In the meantime, the United Kingdom also encourages a commission of inquiry to be established to investigate the detainees at Guantanamo and other camps. The UK believes that although the United States has every right to secure its borders from violent terrorists, the reprehensible crimes at Abu Ghraib and in detention centers spanning across the globe must be inspected by an impartial and unbiased international commission dedicated to bringing crimes of any nation to the sight of the entire world. While the attempts at murder of many of the detainees are inexcusable, the United Kingdom believes that a real commitment to justice entails exposing all the crimes of every nation; and ensuring that detainees are given universal and basic privileges is necessary to guarantee international integrity and respect for human rights.
