United Nations Mercenary Convention

Template:Short description The United Nations Mercenary Convention, officially the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, is a 2001 United Nations treaty that prohibits the recruitment, training, use, and financing of mercenaries. At the 72nd plenary meeting on 4 December 1989, the United Nations General Assembly concluded the convention as its resolution 44/34. The convention entered into force on 20 October 2001 and has been ratified by 46 states.

The convention extends on the Geneva Conventions Protocol I which in Article 47(1) states that a mercenary cannot be a lawful combatant or prisoner of war.

Article 1 (Definition of mercenary)

Article 1 of the Convention has the following definition of a mercenary:

Signatories and parties

As of August 2021, the convention had been ratified by 37 states, and signed but not ratified by 9 states.

Below are the states that have signed, ratified or acceded to the convention.

Country	Signing date	Ratification date	Notes
Template:Flagdeco Italy	February 5, 1990	August 21, 1995
Template:Flagdeco Seychelles		March 12, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Zaire	March 20, 1990		Signed as Zaire; successor state is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Template:Flagdeco Nigeria	April 4, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Maldives	July 17, 1990	September 11, 1991
Template:Flagdeco P.R. Congo	July 20, 1990		Signed as the People's Republic of the Congo; successor state is the Republic of the Congo.
Template:Flagdeco Ukraine	September 21, 1990	September 13, 1993	Signed as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Template:Flagdeco Morocco	October 5, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Suriname	February 27, 1990	August 10, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Uruguay	November 20, 1990	July 14, 1999
Template:Flagdeco Germany	December 12, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Barbados	December 13, 1990	July 10, 1992
Template:Flagdeco Belarus	December 13, 1990	May 28, 1997	Signed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Template:Flagdeco Romania	December 17, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Cameroon	December 21, 1990	January 1, 1996
Template:Flagdeco Poland	December 28, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Togo		February 25, 1991
Template:Flagdeco Angola	December 28, 1990
Template:Flagdeco Cyprus		July 8, 1993
Template:Flagdeco Georgia		June 8, 1995
Template:Flagdeco Turkmenistan		September 18, 1996
Template:Flagdeco Azerbaijan		April 12, 1997
Template:Flagdeco Saudi Arabia		April 14, 1997	With reservations.
Template:Flagdeco Uzbekistan		January 19, 1998
Template:Flagdeco Mauritania		February 9, 1998
Template:Flagdeco Qatar		March 26, 1999
Template:Flagdeco Senegal		July 9, 1999
Template:Flagdeco Croatia		March 27, 2000
Template:Flagdeco Libya		September 22, 2000	Signed as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Template:Flagdeco Serbia	March 12, 2001	January 14, 2016	Signed as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Template:Flagdeco Costa Rica		September 20, 2001
Template:Flagdeco Mali		April 12, 2002
Template:Flagdeco Belgium		May 5, 2002	With reservations.
Template:Flagdeco Guinea		June 18, 2003
Template:Flagdeco New Zealand		September 22, 2004
Template:Flagdeco Liberia		September 16, 2005
Template:Flagdeco Moldova		February 28, 2006	With reservations.
Template:Flagdeco Montenegro	October 23, 2006
Template:Flagdeco Peru		March 23, 2007
Template:Flagdeco Cuba		September 2, 2007
Template:Flagdeco Syria		January 19, 2008	With reservations.
Template:Flagdeco Venezuela		November 12, 2013
Template:Flagdeco Ecuador		December 12, 2016
Template:Flagdeco Equatorial Guinea		January 21, 2019
Template:Flagdeco Honduras		April 1, 2008
Template:Flagdeco Armenia		November 23, 2020	With reservations.

Several of the states that ratified the agreement are however signatories of the Montreux document which on the contrary of the afore-written convention, does not make illegal the use of mercenaries but gives a document about the use of mercenaries including "good practises", the agreement having no sanctions or legal constraints tied to it.

See also

• Montreux Document – a non-constraining agreement between countries about Mercenary use with a side legal volley about non-military private security.
• Private military company
• Mercenary
• Unlawful combatant § Mercenaries

External links

• Text of the convention, list of signatories
• Procedural history and related documents on the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law