MERCURY - Mercenarism and the Accountability Void: Finding routes to accountability and remedy for the victims of human rights abuses perpetrated by mercenaries

August 2026

Publication On 10 August, postdoc Olivia Herman and PI Sorcha MacLeod published a blog post ‘Ensuring Accountability and Remedy for Victims of Mercenarism: Colombia at an Inflection Point’ on EJIL:Talk! – The blog of the European Journal of International Law. Based on research for a MERCURY Country Case Study, the blog reflects on the legal challenges for Colombia in its anticipated accession to the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries in Colombia.

July 2026

Conference From 30 June to 3 July, PI Sorcha MacLeod participated in the 33^rd Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Annual Conference with the overarching theme ‘Navigating Stormy Seas: People, Place and Perspectives in International Law’. Dr MacLeod presented MERCURY her research on ‘Domestic Implementation of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries: Ukraine Country Case Study.’

Visiting Researcher For the month of July, MERCURY’s PI Sorcha MacLeod, was a visiting researcher at the Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture | Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka hosted by MERCURY-affiliated researcher Dr Marnie Lloydd at the Centre for Public Law. During her stay Sorcha was invited to present her research at a Faculty Research Hui where she gave a talk ‘Prosecuting Members of Russian Mercenary Groups for War Crimes: The Voislav Torden Case.’ In addition, she led a seminar for the students of the Contemporary issues in Public International Law class on the human rights issues around mercenarism.

Guest Lecture On 23 July Sorcha MacLeod was invited by Professor Annick Masselot to give a lecture on ‘Recruitment of Mercenaries: Predation and human trafficking’ at the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Faculty of Law.

Conference Presentation On 15 July the New Zealand Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC) invited Sorcha MacLeod to speak on a multistakeholder panel ‘Efforts to Support International Humanitarian Law.’ She presented some MERCURY findings alongside diplomats, academics, and CSO.

June 2026

Roundtable On 23 June, the MERCURY project and the Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI) hosted a roundtable with Visiting Researcher Candace Rondeaux, ‘The Fleet Behind the Front: Russia’s Shadow Tanker Network, Accountability Gaps, and the Grey Zone Challenge for Nordic-Baltic Security’. The roundtable explored the accountability gaps surrounding international law, security studies and open-source investigations and discussed possible legal and policy responses.

Workshop From 18 – 19 June, the Mercury Project hosted the workshop  ‘New and Emerging Challenges to Accountability and Access to Justice for Victims of Mercenarism’. International experts from academia, practice and civil society came together to discuss new and emerging challenges surrounding mercenary actors. The MERCURY team also presented their current research at the workshop:

• The Paramilitary, Mercenary, and Proxy Pipeline: Mapping and Analyzing Hybrid Force Operations Candace Rondeaux (Arizona State University) & Sorcha MacLeod (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)
• Smoking guns: weapon and ammunition tracing and profiling as a tool to hold mercenaries and their networks accountable for illicit armed violence Callum Watson (Small Arms Survey)
• DDR, Mercenarism, and the Accountability Gap Will Bennett (DCAF Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance)
• “He spoke a different language”: Obstacles, hurdles, and barriers victims face as a result of mercenary and PMSC activities and operations Michelle Small (UN Working Group on mercenaries)
• Private Military Companies and Child Rights Christopher Kinsey (King’s College London)
• Strategic litigation for international crimes committed by private military and security actors Chiara Gabriele (TRIAL International)
• Emerging and under-examined regional mercenarism challenges:
  • MENA Region Alia Brahimi (Atlantic Council)
  • GRULAC Michelle Small (UN Working Group on mercenaries)
• From definitions to victims: Reconsidering the purpose of international law on mercenarism Cristina Valdés Argüelles (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)
• Scandinavia Country Case Study Lupinella Bretthauer Kalager (Master Student, University of Copenhagen)
• Mali Country Case Study Salome Addo Ravn (presenting) & Sorcha MacLeod (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)
• Colombia Country Case Study Olivia Herman (presenting) & Sorcha MacLeod (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)
• Germany Country Case Study Milena Goetzke (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)
• What MERCURY Country Case Studies tell us about accountability, access to justice, and mercenarism: Trends and patterns Sorcha MacLeod (MERCURY University of Copenhagen)

Book Talk On 8 June, visiting researcher Candace Rondeaux presented her book ‘Putin’s Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia’s collapse into mercenary chaos’, followed by a discussion with MERCURY’s PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod and an audience Q&A.

Visiting Researcher Dr Candace Rondeaux joined the Mercury team in Copenhagen for the month of June. She is a Professor of Practice at the Arizona State University and a Senior Fellow with the Future Security Initiative at New America. She brings expertise as a geopolitical risk analyst and investigative journalist, and together with the MERCURY team she will collaborate especially on researching the Wagner group and mercenaries as actors in hybrid wars.  

May 2026

Research Retreat From 20 – 22 May, the MERCURY team went on a research retreat at the beautiful Fuglsang Herregaard on Lolland. The retreat enabled intensive team discussions, collaborative writing sessions, and brainstorming meetings to support MERCURY’s ongoing research.

Media Hvad blev der af Wagner-gruppen? Organisationen findes ikke mere, men soldaterne arbejder stadig flittigt (Politiken) Sorcha MacLeod 1 May 2026

Publication PI Sorcha MacLeod together with collaborators from TRIAL International, Privacy International, and DCAF Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance published Textual Suggestions for the UN OEIGWG Draft Instrument on Private Military and Security Companies ahead of the Working Group’s Seventh Session.

April 2026

Media Russian paramilitary carried out air strikes in Mali as rebels advanced, footage shows (BBC Verify) Sorcha MacLeod 29 April 2026

Event Dr Sorcha MacLeod participated in the Seventh session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, relating to the activities of private military and security companies at the UN in Geneva. Details about the session can be found here. 

March 2026

Conference From March 30 to April 1, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod and Postdoc Dr Salome Addo Ravn attended the Socio Legal Studies Association (SLSA) annual conference hosted by the University of Sussex, UK and presented papers in the Armed Conflict, Justice, and the Law stream. Dr MacLeod presented her paper ‘Domestic Implementation of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries: Ukraine Country Case Study’, and Dr Addo Ravn presented her paper ‘Reassessing the OAU Convention on the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa: A Legal Framework of the Past or Present?’  

Event On 26 March, Research Assistant Milena Götzke attended the event ‘Putin’s German mercenaries - War veterans as Moscow’s henchmen’ hosted by the German spy museum. The talk featured insights from investigative journalists researching German-Russian citizens fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

Workshop On 18 March, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod presented a paper ‘Mercenarism in the Ukraine-Russia War’ at the Nordic perspectives on accountability, security and capacity building in Ukraine workshop hosted at KU´s Faculty of Law, organised by Dr Iryna Marchuk to mark the 4^th Anniversary of the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine. Dr Olivia Herman and Milena Götzke joined the rich discussions around accountability, security and capacity building in the context.

February 2026

Expert Briefing On 18-19 February, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod participated in the expert briefing ‘Taking Stock of Existing International Standards and Good Practices on PMSCs’ ahead of the 7^th session of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on PMSC in April. The event was co-organised by MERCURY, together with DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA), and TRIAL international. Within the focus on the 5^th draft instrument of the Montreux documents, topics such as the use and acquisition of weapons and jurisdiction and accountability were discussed. Dr MacLeod made a contribution on access to justice and remedies for victims. The co-organisers published an Expert Briefing: Taking Stock of Existing International Standards and Good Practices on PMSCs: Organised in the context of the 7th session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIGWG) on Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs).

Workshop On 12-13 February, Cristina Valdés Argüelles presented her ongoing PhD research ‘Lost in Drafting: Where Victims Stand in the International Law on Mercenarism’ at the Annual Workshop of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL) International Peace and Security Interest Group (IPSIG), with the theme of International Law Under Pressure: Reform or Reinforcement? in Perth, Australia.

Conference From 9-11 February, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod was invited to speak at the event Modern Conflict, Media and Mercenaries: By Force and Influence, hosted by the Media Programme – South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Podgorica, Montenegro. Sorcha presented a paper on ‘Mercenaries and auxiliary actors in contemporary Russian military and hybrid doctrine: a legal perspective’.

Research Stay PhD Fellow Cristina Valdés Argüelles travelled to Wellington, New Zealand, to spend eight weeks as a guest researcher at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Public Law. During her stay, she further developed her doctoral research on the effectiveness of the international legal framework on mercenarism in providing accountability routes for victims of mercenaries in armed conflict as part of the MERCURY ERC Project.

The research stay provided an opportunity to engage in academic exchanges, while also contributing to the broader development of her PhD project. Cristina worked closely with Dr Marnie Lloyd, who is affiliated to the MERCURY project and a former Visiting Researcher. Reflecting on the experience, Cristina described the stay as “academically enriching and personally transformative”, leaving her with “renewed energy and new ideas” that will shape the next stages of her research.

January 2026

Media Sorcha MacLeod Обіцяє нове життя, а повертає в пакетах: як росія вербує найманців (Promises a new life, but returns them in bags: how Russia recruits mercenaries) INTER TV (Ukraine) 8 January 2026

December 2025

Publication: PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod and Dr Iryna Marchuk published ‘Prosecuting Members of Russian Mercenary Groups for War Crimes, a Remedy for Victims?’ on the EJIL:Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law. It analyses the trial and conviction of Voislav Torden, a member of the Russian mercenary group Rusich. Torden was convicted of committing atrocities under Finland’s universal jurisdiction laws. You can find the blog here.

Event: 1-3 December UN Geneva. PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod participated in an Intersessional Meeting of the UN Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Private Military and Security Companies to discuss the latest draft of the proposed regulatory instrument. She contributed her expertise to the drafting process.

October 2025

Panel Discussion: On the 9^th of October, the MERCURY team hosted a hybrid discussion panel together with visiting researchers, Dr Krisztina Huszti-Órban, Dr Marnie Lloydd and Dr Shawn Walker. Topics included country case studies, methodological challenges and the role of data science in researching mercenaries, and analyses of the legislative frameworks, including the links between mercenarism and counterterrorism were presented.

Media: Russian mercenaries in Mali S. MacLeod 24.20.2025

September 2025

Presentation: On the 24^th of September, MERCURY PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod and postdoc Dr Salome Addo Ravn were invited to present their findings to the international law group at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. Sorcha presented a country case study: 'Domestic Implementation of the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries: Ukraine Case Study’, while Salome presented on the 'Human Rights Implications of the Legislative Framework against Mercenaries in Africa: Gaps and Challenges, and Prospects for Viable Interventions'.

Visiting Researchers: This month, the MERCURY team welcomes Visiting Researchers from New Zealand, Switzerland, and the US to collaborate on the project. The focus of their time in Copenhagen covers a variety of mercenary-related topics including challenges in Asia-Pacific countries (an oft-neglected region when it comes to mercenarism), the role of data science in helping to ensure accountability for the victims of mercenarism, and the links between mercenarism and counter-terrorism.

Dr Marnie Lloydd is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She is an international lawyer specialising in international law related to armed conflict and the protection of civilians. Marnie teaches and researches in the areas of humanitarian law and policy, forced migration, and foreign fighting and counterterrorism. Her academic work builds on fifteen years in the international humanitarian sector, primarily working as a Protection Delegate and Legal Advisor with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and covering the Middle East region. She has provided expert legal consultation to the ICRC, Norwegian Red Cross, UNHCR and the Geneva Academy’s RULAC and IHL in Focus projects, and managed international legal research projects for the European Centre for Minority Issues in Germany. Marnie is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. She is a member of New Zealand’s National IHL Committee, Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law, and Co-Chair of ANZSIL’s International Peace and Security Interest Group.

Dr Shawn Walker is an Assistant Professor of Social Data Science in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University. His research focuses on mis and disinformation and online resistance circulating in social media during social movements, protests, and elections, as well as the related challenges of collecting, analyzing, and preserving data from social media platforms.  He is also a fellow in the Future Frontlines program at New America, where he uses digital trace data to study the Wagner Group as well as the conflict in Ukraine.  He received his MS and PhD in Information Science from the University of Washington Information School.

Dr Krisztina Huszti-Orbán is an international legal expert with over two decades of experience at the intersection of human rights, international humanitarian law, and security policy, with a particular focus on counter-terrorism. She has held positions across the United Nations, including at the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), where she advised on integrating human rights into mandated activities, and at the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED). She also served as Senior Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, and with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) worked on human rights protection in armed conflict and counter-terrorism contexts. Previously, Krisztina was a lawyer with the European Court of Human Rights, advising on human rights, humanitarian, and international criminal law.. She has also worked with the ICRC, DCAF, Amnesty International, and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and held research roles with institutions including the Geneva Academy, NYU, and the University of Essex. She holds a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

August 2025

Media: Could Putin be overthrown? S. MacLeod 26.08.2025

Media: ‘Preying on Instability’ Private Military Companies Cast a Shadow Across the Continent S. MacLeod 11.08.2025

June 2025

Workshop: On June 10th, MERCURY researchers Dr. Salome Addo Ravn and Dr. Ula Aleksandra Kos participated in the 6th Øresund Workshop on International Law, hosted by the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Addo Ravn presented her research on "Human Rights Implications of the Legislative Framework against Mercenaries in Africa: Gaps, Challenges, and Prospects for Viable Interventions." Dr. Kos contributed with a talk titled "Mapping of Mercenaries: Definitional Challenges in Light of Article 47 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions."

May 2025

Workshop: At an interdisciplinary workshop at WASEDA University, Japan, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod spoke about the human rights challenges of mercenaries and PMSC in cyberspace based on a recently published book chapter.  The workshop´s discussions were held in the context of the relationship between East Asia and the Gulf States. Mapping mercenarism, as well as mercenaries and related actors, is an important initial part of the MERCURY team's research. This includes mapping their human rights and IHL impacts in the cyber context, as well as the challenges in addressing them and ensuring accountability.

Workshop: On the 15^th of May, the MERCURY team was delighted to welcome 25 academics, policymakers, CSO, researchers, and others to the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen for the project's first workshop 'Mapping New Manifestations of Mercenaries: Data, Law, and Policy.' The MERCURY team presented draft papers with some initial findings from Phase 1 of the project:

• The research challenges of mapping contemporary mercenaries and mercenarism
• Where victims and accountability for atrocities fit into the international and regional legal regimes on mercenarism
• What national implementation of the international and regional legal regimes on mercenarism and jurisprudence can tell us about victims and accountability
• The role of sanctions regimes in addressing mercenaries and mercenarism

The team is grateful for the helpful and constructive feedback from the participants and the Research Papers will be published over the next few months.

April 2025

Media Interview: MERCURY PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod was interviewed by Ivo Neto for a Público article on the use of Chinese mercenaries in the Ukraine conflict. She talks about the increasing recruitment of foreign nationals as mercenaries to support Russia in the war and the likely prosecution of those captured for the crime of mercenarism by Ukranian authorities. You can find the article in Portuguese here.

Event: In collaboration with the ‘Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights’ and ‘TRIAL International’, MERCURY´s PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod and PhD fellow Cristina Valdés Arguelles co-organised the event “Reflections on the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group Outcomes and the Potential for Developing a Commentary”. The event took place on the 14 of April, as a side event to the session of the UN Open-ended Working Group on PMSC in Geneva. The MERCURY team presented their research of the IGWG's 4th Revised Draft Instrument, particularly on the accountability of PMSC for human rights violations.

March 2025

Event: On the 31 March, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod spoke on 'Mercenaries in Contemporary Armed Conflicts: The Wagner Group and Beyond' at the John´s Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna. As part of SAIS´ Human Trafficking Initiative Series, the event tackled the challenges posed by mercenaries in today´s armed conflicts.

January 2025

Media: Russian ships return to Syrian base ahead of expected withdrawal S. MacLeod, 23.01.2025.

The MERCURY team is excited to welcome Jean-Michel Rousseau as an Affiliated Researcher on the project.
Jean-Michel Rousseau is the acting Head of the Business and Security Division at DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. As such, he oversees the Centre’s work to strengthen human rights compliant security provision in the private sector as well as regulation and accountability of private military and security companies. To strengthen synergies with other stakeholders, he is now also a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen; as well as a founding member of the Women, Peace, and Private Security Network; and involved with the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime. Previously, Jean-Michel led DCAF’s engagement in North Africa; advised national governments and international cooperation agencies on public reform across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus; and supported peace-building processes in Colombia.
The key thread to Jean-Michel’s work over the last 20 years is fostering and implementing sustainable solutions that bring together the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

As a leading expert on security governance, Jean-Michel´s expertise and knowledge of the field will be of great value for MERCURY. Having previously collaborated with PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod, including on a recent NATO Advanced Research Workshop, he will especially collaborate with the MERCURY team in research on EU and NATO legal and policy approaches to mercenarism; the on-going intergovernmental working process on PMSC at the UN; and new challenges around mercenaries and PMSC. In addition, Jean-Michel and his colleagues at DCAF will integrate MERCURY research findings into their policy advisory to States across the globe.

A warm welcome to Jean-Michel, we are excited to work together with you!

December 2024

From 10-11 December, PI Dr Sorcha MacLeod participated in the conference `Enhancing Parliamentary Oversight: Tackling Private and Hybrid Security in West Africa` that was organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and DCAF in Abuja, Nigeria. Parliamentarians, civil society, regulators and others from across West Africa came together to discuss the role of parliamentarians in addressing the challenges presented by the private security sector and mercenaries. Sorcha gave a presentation on the Zero Draft of the revised African Union convention on mercenarism and acted as a panel moderator.

2-3 December 2024, MERCURY PhD Fellow Cristina Valdés Argüelles and PI Dr. Sorcha MacLeod participated in an intersessional consultation of the UN Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework relating to the activities of private military and security companies at the United Nations in Geneva.

This consultation enabled  States, civil society, and other stakeholders to engage in informal discussions on key issues around the 4^th Draft of the instrument, paving the way for the 6^th formal session of the OEIGWG,  in April 2025. The ERC MERCURY team is  providing expert academic input throughout this process to support the development of a framework that ensures accountability and remedies for victims of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by PMSC.

For more information on the Working Group's mandate and progress, visit the official webpage here.

October 2024

Collaboration In October 2024 Ula Kos, Salome Addo Ravn, and Sorcha MacLeod travelled to Washington DC to work and train with MERCURY project collaborator C4ADS.  C4ADS is a non-profit organisation which develops tools for, conducts data-driven analysis of, and provides evidence-based reporting on global conflict and transnational security issues. You can read more about the fascinating work of C4ADS here. In addition, the MERCURY team organised a research workshop with a team investigating mercenaries from UC Berkeley School of Law’s Human Rights Center led by Lindsay Freeman. The workshop was hosted by New America and the teams spent a day discussing synergies between the projects, sharing sources/data, and sharing lessons learned and challenges, as well as planning future collaborations.

Event Sorcha MacLeod was invited to speak at a New America Future Frontlines Briefing Uncovering Wagner: Legal Frameworks and Strategic Implications organised by Candace Rondeaux and Ben Dalton in Washington DC, 22 October 2024. Sorcha made remarks alongside Susanna Sacouto from the War Crimes Research Office of the Washington College of Law, American University. The briefing was attended by representatives from States, civil society, and academia. You can read more about the Uncovering Wagner project here.

10-11 September 2024

Conference Sorcha MacLeod was invited to contribute to an expert panel Stopping the misuse of Virtual Assets by Mercenaries and Private Militaries at the Global Coalition for Fighting Financial Crime Annual Summit 2024 Stockholm, Sweden. A journal article on the financing of mercenarism is in preparation.

29-30 July 2024 

Conference Sorcha MacLeod was invited to participate at the West Africa Security Conference organised by CRDF Global and the US State Department, Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction, in Accra, Ghana, 29-30 July 2024. She spoke on three Expert Panels (1) Exploring the Security Landscape in West Africa; (2) Legislation and Private Military and Security Companies; and (3) Private Military and Security Companies in the Logistics, Shipping and Maritime Sectors. You can read more about the conference here. 

29 July 2024

Podcast This month Sorcha MacLeod was invited to contribute to a podcast by the Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Hosted by Dean Peacock and Reem Abbas, Sorcha was a guest alongside Bassam Al-Ahmad, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Syrians for Truth and Justice for the episode ‘How the MENA region has become a hotspot for mercenaries.’ You can listen to the podcast on Spotify. 

4 July 2024

Event Sorcha MacLeod was invited to speak at United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)/Prajnya Trust, Disarmament Toolkit 2024. She spoke on an Expert Roundtable on State, Markets, War, and Patriarchy. You can learn more about the Disarmament Toolkit 2024 and watch the panel discussion here. 

27-28 June 2024

Conference Sorcha MacLeod and Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito (University of Twente) presented their paper ‘The financing of contemporary mercenarism: resources, routes, and regulation’ on a panel Private Actors, Armed Conflict and the State, at the European Initiative for Security Studies Annual Conference 2024, Prague, Czech Republic. A journal article on the financing of mercenarism is in preparation. You can read more about the conference, including the programme, here.

24 May 2024

Event Sorcha MacLeod was invited to speak at a one-day closed Expert Roundtable on Private Military Companies organised by MERCURY collaborator C4ADS, in Washington DC. The event brought together civil society stakeholders, policymakers and investigators, as well as academia. Topics included, enforcement of and accountability for human rights violations, the Wagner Group Post-Prigozhin, and effective policy approaches. 

22 May 2024

Event Together with the Center for Protection of Civilians (CIVIC) and DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, Sorcha MacLeod co-organised a closed expert panel for UN Protection of Civilians Week at the Australian Mission to the UN in New York on Protecting Civilians from Harm: Strengthening Accountability for Private Military and Security Companies. She also participated in the panel and presented on ‘Private Military and Security Companies: Pathways to accountability and remedy for civilians: Accountability, regulation, actors, and jurisdictional issues.’ Other experts participating were Jean-Michel Rousseau (DCAF) Dr. Erica Gaston, (UN University, Center for Policy Research), Felip Daza (NOVACT), and Margaret Satterthwaite, (UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers). You can find the Concept Note for the event here. 

7 May 2024

Event Sorcha MacLeod was invited to participate in an Expert Roundtable on Private military companies: Consequences for peace? at the Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development 2024, Stockholm, Sweden. You can read more about the panel and the Forum here.