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Status of Mercenaries

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by The 3rd Duke of Swad (U11371507) on Wednesday, 15th April 2009

  A headline I saw earlier, aswell as the discussion about the British SS troops, got me thinking about the legal status of British citizens fighting in conflicts for other nations. I am aware that the job of a mercenary dates back many hundreds of years but I'm interested to know about their legal status in more modern times, and in different situations.
  
  Firstly, for example, Brits fighting in the Spanish Civil War, were these men considered to be committing any type of offense or was it a case of as long as their not fighting against 'us' then that is no problem.
  
  Secondly, what about a scenario where British citizens were fighting in a war against a country with which we were officially allied, even if we were not involved in the war ourselves. I can't think of an actual historical example of this, although I'm sure if I did a little research I could find one, but for sake of a working example, if any Brits fought for the North in Vietnam against the Americans.
  
  Finally, the one which is perhaps easiest to answer, what about British citizens fighting directly against British forces, such as in Afghanistan and Iraq recently. Presumably this is an offense in British law, we often see these people branded as 'terrorists' but is this an accurate legal description, would it be terrorism laws that these people would be arrested under or would it be more like treason.
  
  I'm sure a look on google would provide a few answers but the posts on here are often alot more informative and entertaining with most people having their own stories to tell, so I hope you'll excuse the long post full of questions.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Thursday, 16th April 2009

  Status of mercenaries? Depends on the case (as usual) and what are the interest of Britain (or any other country). Say a British citizen deciding fighting on the side of Afganis shooting British troops. Normally if arrested he would be shot as a traitor. Nowadays you see there is all that propaganda about "terrorism" and such so probably he would be branded a terrorist and judged as such for propagandistic purposes. If however, British troops are implicated in Kosovo in a conflict against Serbians and there is a British citizen fighting on the side of Serbians, and is arrested he would be judged as a traitor since we have never heard the "orthodox terrorist" case yet, there is no such propaganda so it would be of no political use to brand him a terrorist.
  
  So it depends on the case.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by MattJ18 (U13798409) on Thursday, 16th April 2009

  If definitely depends on the circumstances. For example we implicitly accept that British people are going to be mercenaries - in Iraq for example where they are employed by private 'security firms' - when it tallies with our general foreign policy. We also employ mercenaries in the sense of the Gurkhas who I *think* have a special status which allows them to fight for a foreign power. If, however, British people were fighting in Afghanistan against our troops they would effectively be traitors, I expect the same would have been the case for any fighting the Americans in Vietnam.
  
  The Spanish Civil War is an interesting case as it divided the country. If memory serves then the International Brigades had to be secretive about their recruiting and travels as they would've been stopped by the authorities otherwise.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Mani (U1821129) on Thursday, 16th April 2009

  Basically, a Mercenary is illegal, or not covered for protection under articles of war. The problem lies in the interpretation of what a mercenary actually is.
  
  It depends on if the mercenary in question is participating in defensive or offensive activities.
  
  Identification, if provided by the armed forces of a nation allows any person to be treated under the third GC Article 4.1.4. but again, this can be countered depending on if the individual in question is participating in defensive or offensive activities.
  
  There are many documents on the matter;
  The UN International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries…
  
  The GC.
  
  In regards to the UK, it is covered under the Foreign Enlistment Act.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by TimTrack (U1730472) on Friday, 17th April 2009

  "...We also employ mercenaries in the sense of the Gurkhas who I *think* have a special status which allows them to fight for a foreign power..."
  
  
  
  Not just the Gurkhas !
  
  Also, there is (or was, I do not think it has been abolished) a regiment in the British army raised in the Republic of Ireland. Also, there are many troops in the British army who are recruited abroad, mainly in Africa, I think. They serve as soldiers embedded in normal regiments. They get rights to residency in the UK if they serve for, I think, 5 years.
  
  But none of the above have 'special status'. They are part of the British army, and are considered covered by the relevant 'Geneva Conventions' in any conflict in which Britain is involved.
  
  The differnce between these foreigners in British uniform and mercenaries is, I suppose, contractual. A mercenary is not signed up to the obligations and rights attached to formal military membership. He has no legal or moral obligation to the forces that employ him beyond his contract.
  
  For what my opinion is worth, I am against either openly mercenary forces or armed private security operating in war zones or any other type of conflict. In the 1970s white mercenaries were put on trial for their participation in armed conflicts there. Quite right too.

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