Editing Mercenary (section)

===UN concerns over legality of PMCs===
The United Nations questions whether PMC soldiers are sufficiently accountable for their war zone actions. A common argument for using PMCs (used by the PMCs themselves), is that PMCs may be able to help combat [[genocide]] and civilian slaughter where the UN or other countries are unwilling or unable to intervene.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review |title=Policy Review |website=Hoover Institution |access-date=12 February 2019 |archive-date=8 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208210114/https://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>P. W. Singer (June 2003). [http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20030601.htm "Peacekeepers, Inc."] ''[[Policy Review]]''. [[The Brookings Institution]]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203201417/http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20030601.htm |date=3 December 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/dogs_of_peace.html |title=Dogs of Peace |website=www.sandline.com |access-date=11 October 2005 |archive-date=2 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102175413/http://www.sandline.com/hotlinks/dogs_of_peace.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> Yet, after considering using PMCs to support UN operations, [[Kofi Annan]], the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]], decided against it.<ref name="BBC2002" />

In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that stated, that although hired as "security guards", private contractors were performing military duties. The report found that the use of contractors such as Blackwater was a "new form of mercenary activity" and illegal under [[international law]].

Most countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are not signatories to the 1989 [[United Nations Mercenary Convention]] banning the use of mercenaries. A spokesman for the U.S. Mission to U.N. denied that Blackwater security guards were mercenaries, saying "Accusations that U.S. government-contracted security guards, of whatever nationality, are mercenaries is inaccurate and demeaning to men and women who put their lives on the line to protect people and facilities every day."<ref>{{cite news |last=Higgins |first=Alexander G. |date=17 October 2007 |title=US rejects UN mercenary report |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-17-3392316246_x.htm |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630165026/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-17-3392316246_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>