Liaisons Dangereuses: The Cooperation between Private Security Companies and Humanitarian Aid Agencies

Abstract

The hiring of private security companies (PSCs) by humanitarian aid agencies working in complex emergencies has so far received only little attention in academic research and political parlance. Systematic data on the scope, type and impact of such collaboration does not exist. According to a 2003 report by International Alert, “the impression, though, is that it is much wider than is usually acknowledged.” Indeed, the report identifies an “emerging trend” characterized by an increasing number of contracts between humanitarian actors and PSCs. Yet, it concludes that “[t]he consequences and implications of this trend (...) are little understood” (Vaux 2002: 16). This paper cannot be expected to produce any original data from which concise recommendations for an appropriate policy and humanitarian response to this development could be meaningfully deduced. Instead, it will confine itself to provide for an overview of the current debate and the main issues at stake. For this purpose, the paper will begin with a brief summary of the main causes for rising casualties in the humanitarian aid community, which partly explain the growing reliance on private security services on behalf of relief actors. Second, the range of security management strategies available to humanitarians will be considered and, third, integrated into a first typology of commercial security services catering to the aid industry. Fourth, the paper will point to some of the main problems and dangers, which increasing cooperation with PSCs may provoke. Such an awareness will finally enable the argument to identify some preliminary avenues for future research and further action.