This innovative book provides an overview and critical assessment of the current avenues and remedies available to victims seeking recourse from private military and security companies (PMSCs) for human rights violations.

Kuzi Charamba explores the challenges of regulating PMSCs and the significant jurisprudential and practical difficulties that victims face in attaining recourse from PMSCs, whether through state or non-state, judicial or non-judicial mechanisms. In response to these problems, Charamba proposes the introduction of a new victim-focused grievance structure, based on international arbitration. He argues that this will provide for a more robust, inclusive, and participatory governance system to support the effective operation of a globally administered and locally accessible remedial mechanism. Taking a forward-thinking approach, the book also analyses law making and regulation by non-state actors in a globalized world and offers policy and legislative proposals for the reform of the national security sector.

Hired Guns and Human Rights will be a valuable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners of international legal theory, international human rights law, global governance, business and human rights, and international dispute resolution. Its focus on both state and non-state responses to human rights grievances against corporations around the world will also benefit policy-makers and international NGOs.

About the Author
Kuzi Charamba, Founder & Principal, Charamba & Co

Reviews
'Private military and security companies rarely operate with immunity, but routinely do so with impunity. In theory, for example, they may be subject to local laws. In practice, however, the very reason for their presence is that law and order has broken down. Most attempts at regulation focus on the military and security side of this equation, analogizing them to state actors. In this provocative new book, Kuzi Charamba emphasizes their status as private companies, proposing a new regulatory architecture based on arbitration. In doing so, he makes a valuable contribution to the literature on PMSCs, as well as on business and human rights more generally.' --Simon Chesterman, National University of Singapore

'This is an important book that highlights the potential of international arbitration as a method of resolving disputes involving private military and security companies (PMSCs). Kuzi Charamba argues persuasively that arbitration can deliver access to remedies for human rights abuses occurring in the context of PMSCs' global operations. He deftly combines theoretical insights with in-depth knowledge of the practical challenges posed in the PMSC sector, and comes up with a workable proposal of what arbitration can look like.'
--Cedric Ryngaert, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Book Information
ISBN 9781839102882
Author Kuzi Charamba
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd