Critical Analysis Of In Defense Of Mercenarism By Cecile Fabre

The role of private military companies (PMCs) and mercenaries is a growing concern in the field of international law. There have been many debates as to whether PMCs should be legalized or not. One of such, Professor Cecile Fabre in her essay “In Defence of Mercenarism” argues that Mercenarism is permissible under certain conditions as per the stipulations of the just war tradition. She also seizes the opportunity to rebut the five moral objections to Mercenarism. She concludes that PMCs and their employees or mercenaries should be treated as uniformed soldiers and public military organizations. In the first section of this article, Fabre categorically stipulates “my claim is that, under strict conditions (which current practices do not meet), the marketization of war is not morally wrong.” She argues that although one should not kill for gain, circumstances might be so dire as to provide the employer and employee with a justification for such an act. She tables an argument based on the right of individuals to

Reason being that many young people in many countries join the military as a way out of poverty. Also, many persons choose their occupations because they are motivated by financial gain, hence there should be nothing wrong if a person decides to offer his services as an employee of a PMC for financial gain. She also criticizes the argument that because mercenaries are only financially motivated, they are liable to commit atrocities than uniformed soldiers. Instead, she thinks that the reverse is true, and draws comparison to the atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht army during WW2 and also the French army during the Algerian war of independence. Hence, to assert that financial motivation causes mercenaries to act violently is ambiguous, taking into consideration atrocities committed by uniformed