Prohibition the use of mercenaries in Public international law

Abstract

Recently, the term of mercenaries used in international conflicts repeated a lot, and this is no longer only a term but rather than it becomes a phenomenon. It is not a modern as some think and that due to type of the activity carry out by mercenaries on the battlefields, and the training they receive.

This paper addresses how the problem of definition of  mercenaries in international conventions and study the danger of using mercenaries in international conflicts according to international law, that limited to international and regional conventions

The main aim of this study is to highlight the most important international efforts to limit and control use the mercenaries, through study and analysis of international agreements that taken act on this subject, and to indicate whether these agreements are sufficient to limit of this phenomenon, or there are greater efforts that should be taken by the international community.

The main finding for this study is that, the international movement is very slow comparing  to the expansion of the issue of mercenaries, as the effort of the international community does not exceed  three or four international movement agreements that specialize in the mercenaries. Also these agreements are still tainted by deficiency, as they did not explicitly state in their articles on the criminal character for the acts of mercenaries and the punishment specified for them and who is responsible for their actions