2024-08-23 21:56:26
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted to the Congress of the Republic a bill seeking approval of the International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries.
This international instrument, approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 4, 1989is key for Colombia to be able to confront and eradicate the phenomenon of mercenarism.
The importance of this Convention lies in its ability to provide the country with the legal tools necessary to combat organizations that, sometimes through deception, exploit retired Colombian military personnel..
These practices, which violate public and constitutional order, may amount to crimes against humanity, such as genocide or war crimes. The Convention will also allow for a better understanding and regulation of the phenomenon of private military security companies, which have proliferated in contexts of armed conflict.
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Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo stressed the urgency of having these mechanisms, arguing that “We need tools to confront organizations that dedicate themselves to or instrumentalize people who are well trained and educated in military or security matters.. Those who recruit them and take them to participate in wars that have nothing to do with them or with Colombia, they use them as cannon fodder, and then we have an almost diplomatic problem: the families want these people to be brought back.”
Murillo added that, on multiple occasions, foreign networks come to Colombia to recruit these ex-military personnel.often under false promises. “They take them to countries and wars that have nothing to do with us. This leads to complex diplomatic situations because sometimes these people get trapped, others want to get out and can’t,” he explained.
The International Convention
The adoption of this Convention would provide Colombia with a robust legal framework to confront and penalize mercenarism. This international instrument establishes that States Parties must not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries, and requires that the internal legislation of each country consider the legal aspects of this figure, allowing for their criminalization, prosecution and extradition when necessary.
The bill submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposes the creation of specific crimes for acts committed by mercenaries, as well as the adoption of public measures necessary to combat these activities.
According to the Convention, a mercenary is defined as “persons who recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries.”…for the purpose of engaging in a concerted act of violence aimed at overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State, or undermining the territorial integrity of a State.
The document will be submitted for study to Commission II of the Senate of the Republicwhich specializes in international relations and national security and defense.
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