Mercenaries are undermining the rule of law and “exploiting” transnational organised crime, terrorism and violent extremism, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Monday.
Speaking at a meeting convened by Equatorial Guinea, which holds the council’s presidency for a month, Guterres said the presence of mercenaries and other foreign fighters “worsens conflict and threatens stability”.
“Some mercenaries go from war to war, plying their deadly trade with enormous firepower, little accountability and a complete disregard for international humanitarian law,” he said. “Mercenary activities undermine the rule of law and perpetuate impunity. They abet the illegal and inequitable exploitation of a country’s natural resources. They provoke large-scale displacement and intercommunal tension.”
Noting that mercenaries have been a “near constant” on battlefields since ancient times, Guterres said the nature of their activities has evolved over the years.
“Today they are exploiting and feeding off other ills such as transnational organised crime, terrorism and violent extremism.”
He added that in Africa – which was the focus of Monday’s discussion, they remained a “serious concern” and that mercenary groups had been involved in trafficking in the Sahel, implicated in post-election violence in the Ivory Coast in 2010, and responsible for “innumerable violations of human rights and humanitarian law” against civilians in the Central African Republic. They had also operated in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Guterres called on nations to ratify the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, noting that only 35 states – including just three members of the Security Councl – are parties to the convention with Equatorial Guinea to become the 36th this month.
He also called for increased “bilateral, regional and international cooperation” and for an examination of the “political, economic, social and psychological factors” that give rise to mercenary activities.
“The United Nations Working Group on mercenaries has recommended a wide range of steps, including combatting exclusion, improving civic engagement, ensuring good governance, delivering equitable public services, and ensuring protection for minorities and other vulnerable groups…” he said, urging all nations to cooperate with the group.
“Together, let us strengthen our work across the spectrum of this challenge – from prevention to prosecution, and from mitigating the impacts of mercenary activities to addressing the root causes that give rise to them.”
