Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) P.O.

Box 1360 CH-1211 Geneva 1 Switzerland Dear Temporary Steering Committee Members, On behalf of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), a coalition of human rights, environmental and development organizations, we offer the following statement of support for the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC) and communicate our concerns on certain key matters to the Temporary Steering Committee (TSC). States increasingly rely on private security contractors to provide a range of services in active combat zones, presenting a demand for effective contractor oversight and accountability. The United States recognized the need for international private security standards when it joined the now forty-one countries in support of the Montreux Document. However, the Montreux Document only recognizes state legal obligations under existing international law, and falls short of establishing concrete guidelines for contractor conduct. Support for the ICoC is particularly critical within the United States, where the nature of piecemeal legislation addressing contractor accountability leaves a serious criminal jurisdictional gap over these actors.1 The ICoC helps address this gap by providing international guidelines for private security contractors, including responsibilities to support the rule of law and respect human rights. Significantly, Signatory Companies mandate compliance with the ICoC by all personnel and subcontractors as part of each contracts terms and conditions. Signatory Companies commitment to deter and monitor potential adverse human rights impacts has the potential to reduce incidence of abuse, while ongoing, including on-the-ground, performance assessments provide crucial oversight of contractor policies, procedures, and operations.

For example, the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act is limited to provide jurisdiction for contractors employed by the Department of Defense or any other Federal agency if the employment supports the mission of the Department of Defense. 18 U.S.C. 3267(1) (2011).

As the TSC finalizes the Draft Charter, ICAR encourages the swift development of robust performance assessment procedures through the Oversight Mechanism. Crucially, the performance assessment process should feature regular in-field monitoring and transparent reporting, and should be conducted by independent third-party assessors accredited and appointed by the Oversight Mechanism. In doing so, the TSC will ensure critical oversight of personnel conduct and alleged violations through reliable reviews of operations on the ground. Furthermore, ICAR encourages the TSC to guarantee the ICoCs continued credibility by maintaining the governance systems independence and balanced stakeholder representation. Multi-stakeholder initiatives are effective when all constituencies are equally represented in the systems governance and decision-making. ICAR encourages the TSC to ensure that these governance and decision-making systems are transparent in order to promote the independent administration of the ICoC. We believe the above concerns are critical to the functioning of the ICoC. We commit to working actively with your offices towards broader domestic and international support for this initiative, and thank you for your commitment to this important issue. Yours sincerely,

Amol Mehra, Esq. Coordinator International Corporate Accountability Roundtable Email: amol@accountabilityroundtable.org