Keywords
Abstract
This thesis investigates the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) efforts to address mercenarism—the recruitment, use, financing, and training of individuals for private gain in armed conflicts. It analyzes the CIS’s legal frameworks, cooperative mechanisms, and enforcement challenges through a combination of regional agreements, national legislation, and case studies. While the CIS has established significant anti-mercenary measures, its effectiveness is hampered by political divisions, enforcement gaps, and instances of state complicity. Recommendations are provided to strengthen its role in combating mercenarism.
References
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977
International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, 4 December 1989, UN Doc.
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Agreement on the Fight against Mercenarism, 1995, CIS Doc. No. [specific document number if available].
Ibid., Arts.
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 359 (1996).
Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 133 (1999).
Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Art. 170 (2014).
CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, established by the Decision of the CIS Council of Heads of State, 21 June 2000.
UN Security Council (2018). *Report of the Secretary-General on Foreign Fighters*, UN Doc. S/2018
Cornell, S. E. (2001). *Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus*. Routledge
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Gostev, A., & Coalson, R. (2017). "Russia’s Paramilitary Mercenaries Emerge from the Shadows." *Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty*, 16 December
UN Security Council (2020). *Report on the Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh*, UN Doc. S/2020/987, para. 12.
Ukraine officially withdrew from active participation in the CIS in 2018, though it remains a founding member.
CIS Charter, Art. 4 (1993).
UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (2018). *Report to the Human Rights Council*, UN Doc. A/HRC/39/49, para. 40.
International Convention.