UNITED NATIONS (AP) The private military and security business is growing by 7.4 percent a year and on track to become a $244 billion global industry by 2016, the U.N.'s expert on mercenaries reported Monday. The United States is the biggest single spender on private security.
While most of that business is not illegal, and ranges from private security guards and prison guards to contractors protecting U.N. missions, independent U.N. expert Anton Katz told the U.N. General Assembly's committee dealing with humanitarian affairs that there are still vestiges of shadowy "dogs of war" activity.
"Recent events in several parts of the world clearly demonstrate that mercenaries remain a threat not only to security but also to human rights and the right of peoples to self-determination. We continue to call on states to cooperate in eliminating this phenomenon," Katz said.
His report to the U.N. committee cited alleged mercenaries, some from Eastern Europe and Africa, brought in by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 to try to crush the uprising there who are languishing in detention. About 7,000 to 8,000 former combatants are still detained in Libya, and U.N. experts have reported that some appear to have been tortured.
The report also drew attention to mercenary threats to Ivory Coast from the Liberian border area. In June, a court in Monrovia, Liberia, refused to dismiss a case against 19 Liberians charged with being hired and trained as mercenaries to destabilize Ivory Coast. They are charged with crimes including murder, arson, rape, and theft.