Private Military and Security Companies and The Militarization of Humanitarianism

Abstract

The widespread use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in United Nations peacebuilding missions often undermines the effectiveness of these missions. PMSCs tend to encourage, in unnecessary ways, what is called security risk management and promote the militarization of humanitarian efforts. They encourage humanitarian aid organizations to protect their personnel with barbed wire fences, security guards, armed convoys, and secure aid compounds, even if the security risks are relatively low. Consequently, these militarized humanitarian efforts heighten the perception of risks and intensify security measures, which create physical and psychological barriers between humanitarian aid personnel and the local communities in which they carry out their tasks. This situation undermines local ownership of peacebuilding efforts and makes them less responsive to the local communities involved in these efforts. This article provides a comparative analysis of the nature of this problem and its effects in the Global South.

Crisis politics of dehumanisation during COVID-19: A framework for mapping the social processes through which dehumanisation undermines human dignity

“…The post-9/11 human rights crisis, which was facilitated by the terror attacks, and the consequent US-led ‘global war on terror’ later on evolved into various localised forms of ‘war on terror’, including the drug wars in Thailand and Colombia as well as Beijing’s intensified repression of the Uyghur minorities and other places elsewhere (Diken and Laustsen, 2004; Leffler, 2005; Rasmussen, 2002; Regilme, 2018a, 2018b; Roberts, 2020). Consequently, many states intensified their surveillance systems, widespread extrajudicial killings, and the proliferation of abuses such as torture, enforced disappearances, and armed conflict in many places worldwide (Foot, 2005; Groot and Regilme, 2021; Regilme, 2018a, 2018b, 2020a). The 2007/2008 financial crisis, on the other hand, accelerated the shrinking of welfare systems, which, in turn, gravely affected the most marginalised populations.…”