ABSTRACT
The humanitarian identity is the identity that PMSCs have most recently appropriated. Similar to the business and military identities, the humanitarian identity can be seen as part of these companies’ efforts to distance themselves from the mercenary label and to boost their image (Joachim and Schneiker 2012). Another explanation appears to be the ongoing diversification within the market for private security services. In reflecting on the British market, Andrew Bearpark and Sabrina Schulz posit that this market is driven by factors such as the privatization of the public sector, which provides ‘a significant supply of expertise [… ] as well as internationalist business traditions’ (Bearpark and Schulz 2007, 240). In response, these companies are expanding into new markets in an attempt to ‘open up business opportunities by moving into new fields such as state-building, supporting and providing humanitarian and disaster relief, and development tasks’ (Bearpark and Schulz 2007, 241). A similar position is articulated by a representative of the British PMSC Aegis, Dominick Donald, who in 2006 identified potential areas of activity for the British PMSC sector based on the premise that ‘the private sector is extremely adaptive. Its business is identifying the gap between will and capability, and filling it, whether for government or commercial clients’ (Donald 2006, 51–52). According to him, ‘[s]ome humanitarian and development assistance work can easily be undertaken by PSCs [Private Security Companies]. Humanitarian aid delivery, engineering or construction projects, the administration of refugee or IDP camps, building links between communities – these are all tasks that lie well within PSC contractors’ skill sets’ (Donald 2006, 69).
