Norma relacionada
United States of America
Practice Relating to Rule 108. Mercenaries
Section A. Definition of mercenaries
The US Air Force Commander’s Handbook (1980) states:
Until recently, there was no generally accepted definition of a “mercenary,” but the term was usually applied to foreigners who took part in an armed conflict on one side or the other, primarily for high pay or hope of booty … The definition of “mercenary” in [the 1977 Additional Protocol I] is so narrow that few persons would fit within it. The United States has signed this Protocol but has not yet ratified it.
United States, Air Force Pamphlet 110-34, Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Armed Conflict, Judge Advocate General, US Department of the Air Force, 25 July 1980, § 5-3.
In 1987, the Deputy Legal Adviser of the US Department of State affirmed:
We do not favor the provisions of article 47 on mercenaries, which among other things introduce political factors that do not belong in international humanitarian law, and do not consider the provisions of article 47 to be part of current customary law.
United States, Remarks of Michael J. Matheson, Deputy Legal Adviser, US Department of State, The Sixth Annual American Red Cross-Washington College of Law Conference on International Humanitarian Law: A Workshop on Customary International Law and the 1977 Protocols Additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, American University Journal of International Law and Policy, Vol. 2, 1987, pp. 426–427.
