The Legal Status of Employees of Private Military/Security Companies Participating in U.N. Peacekeeping Operations

The relationship between the Member State seconding its troops and the U.N. is governed by a formal agreement, an example of which would be the Model Agreement between the U.N. and Member States Contributing Personnel and Equipment to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.15 ¶7 U.N. peacekeeping forces are considered to be subsidiary organs of the U.N.16 They thus enjoy the status, privileges, and immunities set forth in Article 105 of the U.N. Charter and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.17 Although these troops serve under the U.N. flag, they wear their countries' military uniform and are identified as U.N. peacekeepers only by a blue helmet or beret and a badge.18 The main nature of U.N. peacekeeping forces is military, although civilians and police are also part of them.19 These forces are under the command of the Secretary-General, who has the responsibility of directing and exerting day-to-day control over the U.N. forces and selecting force commanders.20 In addition to instructions from U.N. force commanders, peacekeeping forces may receive orders from the heads of their national contingents, which have the ultimate responsibility for disciplining their forces.21 B. The Current Role of PMSCs in Peacekeeping ¶8 The majority of those who promote the participation of PMSCs in U.N. missions highlight the inadequate coordination, training, and equipment of traditional U.N. forces and claim that these weaknesses can be overcome by the use of PMSCs.22 Even apart from the calls for PMSCs, international aid organizations assert that the current U.N. peacekeeping and peace enforcement system is weak and does not fulfill its mandated purpose.23 ¶9 One of the important reasons for the weakness of U.N. forces is the reluctance of Western countries to second their troops to the U.N.24 At times, countries such as the U.S.\nN. cannot exercise jurisdiction over such crimes, since it does not have the same criminal justice system as other states.