Topic: 2024-Private Military Contractors
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Annie Alkema
Private Military Contractors (PMCs) have gained popularity worldwide in the post-Cold War era with military changes. They are private companies that offer military support and services to many countries. Over 40 percent of countries use and host at least one main headquarters of a PMC. Although they are commonly used, there is a legal grey area surrounding what they do and how they do it. This can and has led to people being taken advantage of as well. In some cases, this can also lead to developing countries being taken advantage of because the PMC is also controlled by a specific country. Although they are supported to be private companies, that may not always be the case due to the lack of regulations. Limiting the use of PMCs would also hurt some countries because of their military inability to control what is happening in the country. This means that they still need to be accessible to counties, but have some regulations to prevent the people or counties from being taken advantage of.
Nigeria believes that the use of PMCs is necessary in some scenarios. They have been used for many years in the conflict against Boko Haram. This has helped prevent an overthrowing of the current government and to protect civilian lives. Boko Haram is also known to have killed tens of thousands of people and contributed to local food crises and famines. Private Military Contractors have been used to train and build the capacity of the military to better fight Boko Haram. Often the military itself has not been enough to quell the violence happening in the north. This means that there will be continued use of PMCs to help stop the terrorist attacks from Boko Haram.
Nigeria continues to be in support of PMCs although they do recognize that there may need to be changes to the regulations surrounding them. There needs to be laws surrounding the transparency of the PMCs. This would allow for a continued use of them because of their invaluable role within society. There should also be laws surrounding the regulation of PMCs Currently no regulations are surrounding them, but countries that rely on PMCs should be able to know what they have done previously. This would allow them to make decisions that would be good for their countries and prevent further harm to their citizens.
