Mercenarism

The recruitment, use, financing or training of a mercenary, defined under international law as a person recruited to fight in an armed conflict who is motivated substantially by private gain rather than allegiance to a party to the conflict, and who is neither a national nor a resident of a state involved in the conflict nor a member of its armed forces. It is addressed as an international offense under instruments including the 1989 United Nations International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries and the earlier Organisation of African Unity Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa, both motivated by the destabilizing role mercenary forces played in a number of African conflicts following decolonization. Modern private military and security contractors operating under a state's lawful authority and command structure are generally excluded from the legal definition, which narrows the offense to fighters recruited outside any lawful chain of command for private profit.