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March 24, 2006

Market Forces: Regulating Private Military Companies

Conference Program

Opening Remarks: Benedict Kingsbury, Institute for International Law and Justice

Why is regulation an issue?
What influence do moral concerns have on current discussions of regulation? What should be the subject of regulation– actors or activities, and what kind of activities? What are the risks of regulation?

Moderator: Simon Chesterman, Institute for International Law and Justice
Speakers:

  • The moral case for regulation: Sarah Percy, University of Oxford
  • What should and what should not be regulated: Kevin O’Brien, Consultant on Public Security and Intelligence Matters

Commentators:

  • Andy Michaels, DynCorp
  • Christopher Beese, ArmorGroup
  • Robert F. Curtis, US Department of Defense

How have problems leading to a call for regulation manifested?
What are the implications of the African experience with PMCs in the 1990s and today? How can regulation address both the problems arising with the use of PMCs on the one hand and the need for their services on the other? What factors caused the increased reliance on PMCs in Iraq? What problems of control, co-operation and accountability arise?

Moderator: Ambassador James Jonah, former Finance Minister of Sierra Leone

Speakers:

  • Africa’s experience of mercenaries and PMCs: Taya Weiss, Institute for Security Studies
  • PMCs in Iraq: David Isenberg, British American Security Informational Council (BASIC)

Commentators:

  • Noah Feldman, New York University School of Law
  • Frank Fountain, former Chief of Prosecutions for the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Governance
What regulatory norms and institutions currently exist? How effective are they? What lessons for future regulation can be drawn?

Moderator: Juerg Lauber, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations

Speakers:

  • PMCs under international humanitarian law: Michael Cottier, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
  • PMCs and state responsibility: Chia Lehnardt, Institute for International Law and Justice
  • Existing domestic regulation: Marina Caparini, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
  • Individual accountability: Mark Taylor, Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies

Commentator:

  • Jonathan Pyle, Burke Pyle LLC

The Role of the Market
Where is the nascent market for private security and military services going? What is the role of the market in future regulation?

Moderator: Sivu Maqungo, Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations

Speakers:

  • Principal-agent relations: James Cockayne, International Peace Academy
  • Regulating through contract: Laura Dickinson, University of Connecticut School of Law
  • The future of the market and its role in regulation: Andy Bearpark, British Association of Private Security Companies

Commentators:

  • Rebecca DeWinter, Amnesty International
  • Doug Brooks, International Peace Operations Association (IPOA)