Editing Unlawful combatant (section)

=====Mercenaries=====

Under Article 47 of Protocol I (Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts) it is stated in the first sentence "A [[mercenary]] shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war".

On 4 December 1989 the United Nations passed resolution 44/34 the ''International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries''. It entered into force on 20 October 2001 and is usually known as the [[UN Mercenary Convention]].<ref>[https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries] A/RES/44/34 72nd plenary meeting 4 December 1989 (UN Mercenary Convention) [http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/mercenaries.htm Entry into force: 20 October 2001] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150812182322/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm |date=12 August 2015 }}</ref> Article 2 makes it an offence to employ a mercenary and Article 3.1 states that "A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention".<ref>[http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/mercenaries.htm International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150812182322/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm |date=12 August 2015 }}</ref>