Public Justice for Privatized Conflicts: The Challenges Private Military and Security Companies Present for Transitional Justice
In modern conflicts, private military and security companies (“PMSCs”) are prominent—and often dominant actors—sometimes even outnumbering state armed forces. Despite their prevalence, PMSCs fall into a gap in international law, rendering regulation of their activities and accountability for their wrongdoing exceedingly difficult. This gap not only creates a lack of accountability but also negatively impacts the other three pillars of transitional justice: truth-seeking, reparations, and institutional reforms. Because the pillars of transitional justice processes are complementary, impunity for PMSC perpetrators has the potential to exclude and marginalize victims and to result in an incomplete transition. The UN Human Rights Council’s intergovernmental working group to create a regulatory framework for PMSCs held its sixth negotiation session in April 2025 revising the fourth draft of a potential binding instrument that would finally provide international law on PMSCs. It is crucial for the future of transitional justice, though, that the design of an international convention enables not only prosecutions but all four pillars of transitional justice.
Recommended Citation: Lisa K. Dicker, Public Justice for Privatized Conflicts: The Challenges Private Military and Security Companies Present for Transitional Justice, 49 Fordham Int'l L.J. 769 (2026).