38 Amendments of Klaus BUCHNER related to 2016/2238(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 1
Heading 1
on private military and security companies
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
– having regard to the Montreux document on pertinent international legal obligations and good practices for States related to operations of private military and security companies (PMSCs) during armed conflict,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
– having regard to the U.N. Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination established in July 2005,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4
Citation 4
– having regard to the UN Guidelines on the Use of Armed Security Services from Private Security Companies, which has recently been extended to unarmed security services,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7
Citation 7
– having regard to the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers (ICoC) established by the International Code of Conduct Association, which is an industry self-regulation mechanism whose standards are voluntary,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8
Citation 8
– having regard to the International Stability Operations Association Code of Conduct which is an industry-owned self- regulatory mechanism,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10
Citation 10
– having regard to ISO 18788 Management System for Private Security Operations, which sets parameters for the management of private security companies,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17
Citation 17
– having regard to the continuing terroristmany different risks, challenges and threats within and outside the European Union’s borders,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas security and defence do not depend only on financial resources, but also on knowledge; whereas public authorities do not always possess both in abundanonly the democratic state governed by the rule of law shall have the monopoly on the legitimate use of force; whereas since the end of the Cold War many state functions with regard to security and the use of force have been outsourced leading to the erosion of the state and the concept of the democratic control of armed forces;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas decision-makers in the EU have constantly failed to inform citizens about the appropriate resources needed, both in terms of personnel and budget, in order to properly fulfil mandates of civilian and military missions and operations abroad; whereas this has led to outsourcing of security and military services to PMSCs often against the advice of armed forces or police; whereas in many cases decision-makers also fail to inform about the costs associated with services to be provided by PMSCs and deny to directly commit budget resources to such ends in a transparent manner;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas more than 1.5 million private security guards were employed in around 40 000 Private Military and Security Companies in Europe in 2013; whereas these figures are continuing to increase;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the array of services provided by PMSCs is extremely broad, ranging from logistical services to actual combat support and participation in post- conflict reconstruction;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the outsourcing of military activities, formerly an integral part of the activities of armed forces, is taking place, among other things, to provide services in a more cost-efficient manner, but also to compensate for a shortfall in capabilities in shrinking armed forces in the context of an increasing number of multilateral missions abroadcompensate for the unwillingness of decision-makers to commit appropriate resources in terms of personnel and budget; whereas PMSCs can also ,sometimes provide capabilities that are entirely lacking in national armed forces, often at short notice; whereas PMSCs couldare also besometimes used for reasons of political convenience to avoid limitations on the use of troopsuch as parliamentary oversight and accountability on the use of troops including by secret services for covert operations;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas PMSCs have been involved in incidents resulting in loss of life; whereas such incidents vary across time and country and amount in some cases to serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide; whereas this has had repercussions on the efforts of the international community in the countries in question and has revealed considerable gaps in accountability structures;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas, for states to benefit from the advantages offered by PMSCs, and to ensure that they can be held accountable, a legal framework shouldmust be put in place to facilitregulate their use; whereas PMSCs are part of an industry, which is highly transnational in nature and as such requires a global approach to regulation;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas PMSCs could play a more important role in the fight against piracy and in improving maritime security, in missions involving dogs, cyber defence, research and development of security tools, mixed surveillance missions and training in cooperation with public authorities; whereas it is important to also stress the fact that the involvement of PMSCs in the fight against piracy has also led to serious still unresolved problems such as the killing of fishermen, the spread of uncontrolled floating armories and diplomatic conflicts between countries such as India and a number of EU Member States;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that, compared to national troops, private military and security companies, particularly those based in host countries, can provide considerable cost savings as well as valuable local knowledge; however, stresses that the use of services provided by local security and military companies in fragile countries and crisis-prone regions often also leads to very negative developments which undermine the EU's foreign policy and development objectives by providing a cover for warlords, militias and illegally armed groups including organized crime;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that the EU makes use of Private Security Companies abroad to guard its delegations and staff and to support its civilian and military CSDP missions; stresses that their services fill capacity gaps that the EU would otherwise have difficulties in tackling and calls on the Member States to dedicate national armed forces or police for force protection abroad; demands that the Commission and the Council produce an overview of where, when and for what reason Private Security Companies have been employed in support of EU missions;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Points to the various and serious legal and political problems associated with the very current practice of subcontracting in the field of military and security services especially in particular by services provided by local subcontractors in third countries; believes that Member States, EEAS and the Commission should agree on following the example of NATO by only contracting PMSCs based in EU Member States;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Points to the fact that PMSCs services are used by various EU actors mostly in unstable regions and countries where democratic governance structures are fragile but in particular local police and armed forces are weak and not in full control of internal and external security; underlines that in such third countries the use of local PMSCs, in particular as subcontractors which goes with very low levels of accountability and transparency, often further weakens fragile states and runs counter to EU stabilisation and development policies as often local militias, warlords and other actors are being strengthened as a result of such contracts; therefore urges the HR/VP, the Member States, the EEAS and the Commission to agree on common rules which oblige European based PMSCs executing contracts on their behalf to not subcontract to local PMSCs in third countries;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recommends, therefore, that the Commission propose common PMSC contracting guidelines that clearly spell out the requirements for international and local PEU based PMSCs to qualify for EU contracts, with the goal of replacing the current patchwork of approaches; these guidelines should be based both on international best practices in relation to PMSC conduct and management, such as the ICoC, and take into account the need for particular care to be taken when selecting local PSCs in a complex post-crisis context; urges the Commission and; points to the approach of US authorities which include detailed standards and requirements into each individual contract and calls on the EEASU to give clear preference to ICoC-certified providers follow this example;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Urges the Commission and EEAS to use the same guidelines for the hire, use and management of military and security contractors in all external actions, missions, operations and for EU Delegations across all countries and regions and for all services of a revised Common Military List of the European Union; urges Commission and EEAS to include a list of best practices into such EU guidelines which can be derived from the Montreux Document in particular with regard to procedures for the selection and contracting of PMSCs, the terms of contract with PMSCs and the monitoring of compliance and ensuring of accountability;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Believes that, as a first step, the EU should define relevant military and security services in a precise way; urges in this respect the Council to add military and security services by Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) to the Common Military List of the European Union without delay; points to the fact that some military services by private companies may already be covered in ML22 under technical assistance which incorporates consulting services among other forms of assistance; points to the EU funded research project PRIV-WAR which generated a list of 29 different military and security services which could potentially be provided by PMSCs and calls for the creation of a military list category (ML) which includes this broad range of services;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 – introductory part
Paragraph 12 – introductory part
12. Recommends supporting the creation of a flexible, but rigorous, regulatory model which will:
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Calls on the Commission to regulate the various services provided by PMSCs on EU territory in the internal market; calls in this respect on the Commission to initiate a directive which would set minimum standards for private military and security service providers within the EU; believes that such a directive should clarify minimum standards regarding registration and operations of such service providers in order to improve and harmonize current national regulations; believes that appropriate legal bases for such a directives would be Articles 114, 53 and 62 TFEU which provide legal bases for the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that nascent global regulatory frameworks, such as the Montreux document, the ICoC and other regulatory initiatives in the UN framework, constitute clear progress compared to the lack of meaningful regulation that prevailed only ten years ago;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Also commends the efforts made by manysome EU member states, following the good practice outlined in the Montreux document, to introduce effective national regulation of PMSCs;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that the transnational nature of PMSCSs and, in particular, their activities in areas of the world affected by crisis often leads to jurisdictional gaps that could make it difficult to hold the companies or their employees to account for their actions; notes that the national regulation of Private Security Companies often does not have extraterritorial application; urges therefore the EEAS, Commission and Member States to only contract EU based PMSCs in combination with the obligation to execute services directly without recourse to local subcontractors in often fragile third countries;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Stresses that in case the EU relies on PMSCs in third countries with which it has concluded a SOFA, such agreements must always include the PMCSs employed and specifically clarify that the companies will be held accountable under EU law;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Stresses that the EU Concept for Contractors Support should be strengthened and made binding for Member States and EU institutions; believes that in particular it should specify stricter standards for inclusion into contracts, for example based on US standards, and that it should also require that in regions of conflict no local PMSC should be employed or subcontracted; stresses that international PMSCs should have the possibility to hire local staff but only individually and directly in order to ensure effective vetting and to prevent the creation of local security industries in conflict regions;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Believes that such an international framework shall be built on the work of the UN Working Group on mercenaries and their 2011 draft International Convention on the Regulation, Oversight and Monitoring of Private Military and Security Companies; therefore urges the HR/VP, the Member States, the EEAS, and the Commission to strongly support the creation of such an international convention aiming at establishing an international legal regime to regulate relevant services provided by PMSCs;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses that one of the most effective ways of influencing PMSCs is through public sector procurement decisions; emphasises, therefore, the importance of making the award of contracts to PMSCs conditional on the adoption of best practices, such as the ICoC, which some Member States have already implemented; notes, however, that the ICoC compliance mechanism needs to be strengthened and its full independence assured to make it a credible incentive for compliance;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Notes the considerable influence the EU and its Member States enjoy over the global security industry as a result of many major players having their headquarters in the EU; therefore places particular emphasis on the upcoming revision of the Common Military List as an opportunity to include certaina broad range of military and security services provided by PMSCs, which would make them subject to export regulations and apply basic standards to their activities abroad;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Urges the Council to regulate the export of military and security services as defined in an updated Common Military List of European Union via a dedicated Council Decision which should require national legislation controlling the export of military and security services; believes that contracts for the provision of these services outside the EU should be licensed by export authorizations and require annual reporting of service export licences granted by Member States in order to increase public transparency and accountability; points out that the legal bases for such a Council Decision is provided by Articles 25 and 28 TEU and can draw on the example of Council Common Position 2008/944;