Private Military and Security Companies in the International Legal Void
... force to private, profit-seeking actors. The issue is highly ambiguous, hence requires closer examination. Article 1 of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries, one of the main texts of the international law on mercenaries, states: 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,...