United Nations Mercenary Convention

The United Nations Mercenary Convention (formally, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries) is a 2001 United Nations treaty that prohibits the recruitment, training, use, and financing of mercenaries. At the 72nd plenary meeting on 4 December 1989, the United Nations General Assembly concluded the convention as its resolution 44/34. The convention entered into force on 20 October 2001.

Definition of a mercenary

Article 1 of the convention has the following definition of a mercenary:

1. A mercenary is any person who:

(a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;

(b) Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party;

(c) Is neither a national of a party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a party to the conflict;

(d) Is not a member of the armed forces of a party to the conflict; and

(e) Has not been sent by a State which is not a party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.

2. A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation:

(a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at:

(i) Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or

(ii) Undermining the territorial integrity of a State;

(b) Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation;

(c) Is neither a national nor a resident of the State against which such an act is directed;

(d) Has not been sent by a State on official duty; and

(e) Is not a member of the armed forces of the State on whose territory the act is undertaken.

— UN Mercenary Convention

One time Judge Advocate Todds S. Milliard has argued that the convention and Article 47 of Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) are designed to cover the activities of mercenaries in post colonial Africa, and do not address adequately the use of private military companies by sovereign states.

Signatories and parties

As of November 2013, the convention had been ratified by 33 states.

Below are the states that have signed, ratified or acceded to the convention.

Country	Signing date	Ratification date	Notes
Italy	February 5, 1990	August 21, 1995
Seychelles		March 12, 1990
Zaire	March 20, 1990		Originally signed as Zaire; successor state is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Nigeria	April 4, 1990
Maldives	July 17, 1990	September 11, 1991
P.R. Congo	July 20, 1990		Originally signed as the People's Republic of the Congo; successor state is the Republic of the Congo.
Ukrainian SSR	September 21, 1990	September 13, 1993	Originally signed as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; successor state is Ukraine.
Morocco	October 5, 1990
Suriname	February 27, 1990	August 10, 1990
Uruguay	November 20, 1990	July 14, 1999
Germany	December 12, 1990
Barbados	December 13, 1990	July 10, 1992
Byelorussian SSR	December 13, 1990	May 28, 1997	Originally signed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic; successor state is the Republic of Belarus.
Romania	December 17, 1990
Cameroon	December 21, 1990	Jan. 1, 1996
Poland	December 28, 1990
Togo		February 25, 1991
Angola	December 28, 1990
Cyprus		July 8, 1993
Georgia		June 8, 1995
Turkmenistan		September 18, 1996
Azerbaijan		April 12, 1997
Saudi Arabia		April 14, 1997	With reservations.
Uzbekistan		January 19, 1998
Mauritania		February 9, 1998
Qatar		March 26, 1999
Senegal		July 9, 1999
Croatia		March 27, 2000
Libya		September 22, 2000
F.R. Yugoslavia	March 12, 2001		Originally signed as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; successor state is the Republic of Serbia.
Costa Rica		September 20, 2001
Mali		April 12, 2002
Belgium		May 5, 2002	With reservations.
Guinea		June 18, 2003
New Zealand		Sept. 22, 2004
Liberia		September 16, 2005
Moldova		February 28, 2006	With reservations.
Montenegro	October 23, 2006
Peru		March 23, 2007
Cuba		September 2, 2007
Honduras		January 1, 2008
Syria		January 19, 2008	With reservations.
Venezuela		November 12, 2013

See also

• Command responsibility
• Jus in bello
• Private military company
• Mercenary
• Unlawful combatant#Mercenaries
• Arms trade

External links

• Text of the convention, list of signatories
• Procedural history and related documents on the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law