Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Private and Mercenary Military Forces

Monday 21 September 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Department keeps all threats to the UK and its allies under regular review, including those from private and mercenary forces.
  • Our adversaries' use of mercenaries and proxies is growing and undermining stability in the middle east, north Africa and more widely.
  • The UK condemns all destabilising mercenary and proxy military activity.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Alicia Kearns Con Rutland and Stamford
Defence
Context

The question arises from concerns about the increasing use of mercenaries and private contractors by adversaries to achieve their goals, especially in conflict zones like Libya.

Question

What recent assessment has been made of the level of threat of private and mercenary military forces to (a) the UK and (b) the UK's allies?

Answer from Ben Wallace

The Department keeps all threats to the UK and its allies under regular review, including those from private and mercenary forces.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific details about the threat level and assessment are not provided, only a general statement of ongoing review.

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Q2 Alicia Kearns Con Rutland and Stamford
Foreign Affairs
Context

The question arises from the growing use of mercenaries by adversaries like Russia in Libya, destabilising conflict zones and undermining international stability.

Question

Many adversaries deploy mercenaries and private contractors as cartels to achieve nefarious goals around the world. What steps are being taken in the integrated review and multilaterally to assess and combat this threat?

Answer from Ben Wallace

Our adversaries' use of mercenaries and proxies is growing and undermining stability in the middle east, north Africa and more widely. The UK condemns all destabilising mercenary and proxy military activity. I am afraid I cannot comment on individual actions to counter this threat due to potential prejudice.

Not addressed: Specific steps or measures being taken to combat the threat are not disclosed, only a general condemnation of such activities.

How: Cannot Comment On Individual Actions

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