United Nations Mercenary Convention

The United Nations Mercenary Convention, officially the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, is a 2001 United Nations treaty that prohibits the recruitment, training, use, and financing of mercenaries. At the 72nd plenary meeting on 4 December 1989, the United Nations General Assembly concluded the convention as its resolution 44/34. The convention entered into force on 20 October 2001 and has been ratified by 46 states.

The convention extends on the Geneva Conventions Protocol I which in Article 47(1) states that a mercenary cannot be a lawful combatant or prisoner of war.

Article 1 (Definition of mercenary)

Article 1 of the Convention has the following definition of a mercenary:

1. A mercenary is any person who:
   • (a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
   • (b) Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party;
   • (c) Is neither a national of a party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a party to the conflict;
   • (d) Is not a member of the armed forces of a party to the conflict; and
   • (e) Has not been sent by a State which is not a party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.
2. A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation:
   • (a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at:
     • (i) Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or
     • (ii) Undermining the territorial integrity of a State;
   • (b) Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation;
   • (c) Is neither a national nor a resident of the State against which such an act is directed;
   • (d) Has not been sent by a State on official duty; and
   • (e) Is not a member of the armed forces of the State on whose territory the act is undertaken.

— UN Mercenary Convention

Article 2

Any person who recruits, uses, finances or trains mercenaries, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention.

Article 3

1. A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention.
2. Nothing in this article limits the scope of application of article 4 of the present Convention.

Article 4

An offence is committed by any person who:

• (a) Attempts to commit one of the offences set forth in the present Convention;
• (b) Is the accomplice of a person who commits or attempts to commit any of the offences set forth in the present Convention.

Article 5

1. States Parties shall not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries and shall prohibit such activities in accordance with the provisions of the present Convention.
2. States Parties shall not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries for the purpose of opposing the legitimate exercise of the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination, as recognized by international law, and shall take, in conformity with international law, the appropriate measures to prevent the recruitment, use, financing or training of mercenaries for that purpose.
3. They shall make the offences set forth in the present Convention punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the grave nature of those offences.

Article 6

States Parties shall co-operate in the prevention of the offences set forth in the present Convention, particularly by:

• (a) Taking all practicable measures to prevent preparations in their respective territories for the commission of those offences within or outside their territories, including the prohibition of illegal activities of persons, groups and organizations that encourage, instigate, organize or engage in the perpetration of such offences;
• (b) Co-ordinating the taking of administrative and other measures as appropriate to prevent the commission of those offences.

Article 7

States Parties shall co-operate in taking the necessary measures for the implementation of the present Convention.

Signatories and parties

As of August 2021, the convention had been ratified by 37 states, and signed but not ratified by 9 states.

Below are the states that have signed, ratified or acceded to the convention.

Country	Signing date	Ratification date	Notes
Italy	February 5, 1990	August 21, 1995
Seychelles		March 12, 1990
Zaire	March 20, 1990		Signed as Zaire; successor state is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Nigeria	April 4, 1990
Maldives	July 17, 1990	September 11, 1991
P.R. Congo	July 20, 1990		Signed as the People's Republic of the Congo; successor state is the Republic of the Congo.
Ukraine	September 21, 1990	September 13, 1993	Signed as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Morocco	October 5, 1990
Suriname	February 27, 1990	August 10, 1990
Uruguay	November 20, 1990	July 14, 1999
Germany	December 12, 1990
Barbados	December 13, 1990	July 10, 1992
Belarus	December 13, 1990	May 28, 1997	Signed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Romania	December 17, 1990
Cameroon	December 21, 1990	January 1, 1996
Poland	December 28, 1990
Togo		February 25, 1991
Angola	December 28, 1990
Cyprus		July 8, 1993
Georgia		June 8, 1995
Turkmenistan		September 18, 1996
Azerbaijan		April 12, 1997
Saudi Arabia		April 14, 1997	With reservations.
Uzbekistan		January 19, 1998
Mauritania		February 9, 1998
Qatar		March 26, 1999
Senegal		July 9, 1999
Croatia		March 27, 2000
Libya		September 22, 2000	Signed as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Serbia	March 12, 2001	January 14, 2016	Signed as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Costa Rica		September 20, 2001
Mali		April 12, 2002
Belgium		May 5, 2002	With reservations.
Guinea		June 18, 2003
New Zealand		September 22, 2004
Liberia		September 16, 2005
Moldova		February 28, 2006	With reservations.
Montenegro	October 23, 2006
Peru		March 23, 2007
Cuba		September 2, 2007
Syria		January 19, 2008	With reservations.
Venezuela		November 12, 2013
Ecuador		December 12, 2016
Equatorial Guinea		January 21, 2019
Honduras		April 1, 2008
Armenia		November 23, 2020	With reservations.

Several of the states that ratified the agreement are however signatories of the Montreux document which on the contrary of the afore-written convention, does not make illegal the use of mercenaries but gives a document about the use of mercenaries including "good practises", the agreement having no sanctions or legal constraints tied to it.

See also

• Montreux Document – a non-constraining agreement between countries about Mercenary use with a side legal volley about non-military private security.
• Private military company
• Mercenary
• Unlawful combatant § Mercenaries

External links

• Text of the convention, list of signatories
• Procedural history and related documents on the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law