05/09/2023
https://telegra.ph/Private-military-companies-in-the-United-Kingdom-07-14
Private military companies in the United Kingdom
MFA RussiaJuly 14, 2023
https://telegra.ph/Private-military-companies-in-the-United-Kingdom-07-14
Although the country has numerous registered companies providing diverse security services in the United Kingdom and abroad, this sector remains quite opaque in terms of media coverage and legal regulation.
Open sources providing data on private military companies are mostly heavily redacted information with major omissions on official websites. The Companies House provides standard accounting forms and records for these companies, and this hinders a deeper analysis of their performance.
It is very difficult to establish the exact number of British companies that can be classed as private military companies. There is no open official register of these companies; and registration with state agencies is not mandatory. The Companies House database makes it possible to obtain only generalised information on this issue. In its specialised 2018 report, the Open Democracy NGO mentioned at least 235 UK-registered companies providing military and security services abroad.
The provisions of the Private Security Industry Act of 2001 regulate the activities of private security companies operating in the UK. Although London initially studied the possibility of establishing a legal framework for regulating overseas activities of private military companies, it eventually opted for voluntary self-regulation, with minimal state involvement because this was apparently the most effective way to promote high standards.
The Security in Complex Environments Group bringing together 36 major UK-registered private military companies plays an important role in this process. This organisation is a platform for collectively drafting regulations, including monitoring the companies’ compliance with international humanitarian law. The group lists a number of ministries and agencies, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence as associated members and observers; they take part in the group’s work whenever necessary.
The Government also assumes that British companies will be guided in their work by provisions of international regulations and recommendations for private military companies, including the 2008 Montreux Document on Private Military and Security Companies and the 2010 International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. However, these documents are not legally binding.
In some cases, provisions of the International Criminal Court Act of 2001, passed following the UK’s accession to the International Criminal Court, shall apply to British citizens involved in private military companies’ operations overseas who have committed grave crimes (murder and torture).
The main British private military companies are affiliated with various transnational security companies, including Allied Universal and Constellis whose main offices are located in the United States, as well as Gardaworld (Canada). At the same time, they have numerous affiliates abroad and offer an extremely wide package of services, including the provision of advisors, intelligence, training law-enforcement personnel and crisis management. The latter included efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19, guarding facilities (prisons included), cash collection, legal support, analysing geopolitical risks, supplying weapons and military equipment, technological protection and security, mine clearance and escorting ground-based and high-seas convoys.
Most notable companies:
Prevail Partners (private military intelligence company)
The purpose of its activities is to provide due diligence services for legal entities and individuals based on information obtained from databases of public and private institutions, media reports, GIS Internet resources, including the shadow segment of the internet, and social media monitoring. The organisation also renders consulting services in cybersecurity.
Prevail Partners' clients include the UK Ministry of Defence and intelligence services, large foreign mining companies (investing in countries with unstable military and political conditions), British and international NGOs, as well as special services of the countries participating in the Five Eyes agreement (Australia, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, the United States).
The organisation provides training for job seekers in private and public security agencies, including in special operation activities, UAV control, operation and investigative tactics.
As part of its activities Prevail Partners actively applies technologies of data collection and analysis with the help of artificial intelligence (for example, Fivecast ONYX).
The company places special purpose software in popular applications for smartphones and other personal devices, and uses the permissions granted by subscribers to trigger unauthorised activity.
One of Prevail Partners' confirmed customers is the US Army Special Operations Command Africa, which has paid more than $6.5 million for such software.
Currently, a group of the company's specialists (six to seven people) is operating in Ukraine. Their tasks include collecting and providing Ukrainian intelligence services with intelligence information, including personal data on foreign and Russian citizens, as well as on servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces taking part in the special military operation. The company's Executive Chairman Justin Hedges has repeatedly visited Kiev to coordinate with the local authorities the organisation of training for sabotage and reconnaissance groups to be sent to the combat zone.
Group 4 Securicor (G4S, as part of the Allied Universal group of companies) Considered one of the world's largest employers with 490,000 employees in over 80 countries. It has extensive experience of working in such unstable countries and regions as Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt (during the 2011 unrest), Mali, South Sudan and other African states.
Aegis Defence Services (as part of Gardaworld)
Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia and the Central African Republic (CAR).
Pilgrims Group
Based on records filed in 2019, it lists activities in Nigeria (2,500 employees of the company are employed there), Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition, we should note Control Risks (involved in Libya), Olive Group (part of Constellis, operated in Afghanistan and Libya), Protection Vessels International (maritime security, was noticed in Eritrea, operates in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden), Saladin Security (Afghanistan, Ghana and Kenya).
London openly makes use of the services of British private military companies abroad, emphasising the effectiveness of this practice in difficult security conditions. This could refer to a wide range of activities, but first of all it concerns protection of British diplomatic and military facilities. Public agencies are reluctant to publish information about existing contracts, hiding behind security considerations. However, according to official information, in 2012-2016, private military companies fulfilled state contracts for a total of £160 million. The main beneficiaries were G4S (£90 m), Gardaworld (£49.6 m), Aegis (£8.7 m), Control Risks (£5.4 m) and Pilgrims Group (£3 m). There are other forms of cooperation, such as the Ministry of Defence's arrangements for the employment of former British servicemen in G4S.
Although the country has numerous registered companies providing diverse security services in the United Kingdom and abroad, this sector remains quite opaque in terms of media coverage and legal regulation. Open sources providing data on private military companies are mostly heavily redacted informa...
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