Private Military and Security Actors Accountability Programme

The use of private military and security actors (PMSAs), including mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and security companies, is rising.

States and companies across diverse sectors increasingly rely on these actors in conflict-affected areas and other high-risk contexts, where the rule of law and accountability mechanisms are often constrained.

PMSAs are regularly alleged to be involved in human rights and environmental abuses. Some of these violations may amount to international crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, and enforced disappearance. Beyond direct harm, the deployment of PMSAs can also contribute to broader destabilisation by fuelling conflicts and undermining peace efforts.

Despite ongoing documentation, PMSAs and the actors that contract them or profit from their services often continue to operate with impunity. Successful legal actions remain rare, and many victims are left in vulnerable situations without meaningful access to justice or remedy. Given the geographic and financial scale of the sector, and the life-threatening consequences these practices can have for civilians, stronger accountability is urgently needed.

PMSAs often operate through complex and transnational structures that make it difficult to identify decision-makers and establish responsibility. Their activities may be shielded by limited transparency, with restricted access to information. In many contexts, territorial States are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute, while the transnational nature of those actors implicates multiple jurisdictions. These barriers create an enabling environment for continued abuses, while victims face significant obstacles in being identified, supported and able to seek justice.

Strategic litigation

We explore avenues for accountability at domestic, extraterritorial and international levels, including through criminal complaints and other legal actions. We focus on advancing cases that can contribute to jurisprudence on responsibility for international crimes committed by economic actors who may enable or benefit from these operations.

Documentation and case-building with local partners

Working with civil society partners, we support the monitoring, documentation and reporting of alleged crimes in line with international standards, with a survivor-centred approach and mindful of security and other risks.

Capacity-strengthening and knowledge sharing

Through training and mentoring activities, we strengthen partners’ ability to document violations and report them through appropriate national, extraterritorial, regional and international channels. This includes practical and legal aspects of documentation, anchored in the do no harm principle.

Evidence-based advocacy

We engage with national authorities, multilateral processes and regulatory initiatives to highlight accountability gaps related to the use of PMSAs by States and corporate actors. This includes contributing legal analysis on corporate responsibility, sharing documented patterns of abuse, and supporting discussions on due diligence and other regulatory measures governing the use of private security and military services.

In this framework, TRIAL International leads the Corporate Accountability Initiative, which is co-funded by the European Union and brings together a consortium of civil society organisations spanning multiple regions, implemented in coordination with in-country partners in the DRC, Nigeria, Mozambique, Iraq, Colombia and Guatemala.