The Privatization of War: A New Challenge for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Abstract

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have rapidly increased in size and rate of deployment since the 1991 Gulf War, notably during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars of 2001 and 2003 respectively. This growth of PMSCs in the last two decades has not been accompanied by an effective legal regulatory framework, and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda does not include any provisions related to the escalating threat that private contractors hired to provide military and security services in conflict settings pose to international peace and security and human rights. This chapter argues that UN institutions, scholars, advocates, and practitioners should incorporate the privatization of war as a new challenge within the WPS agenda, intending to plant a seed in touching upon different ways in which the privatization of war should be addressed in order to prevent gendered human rights violations in conflict scenarios.