A/HRC/7/7 page 14 Ronin Concepts and Saladin.37 There would also be companies from South Africa, Israel, the Balkans, the European Union, Canada,38 Eastern Europe and Switzerland39 which would operate in zones of armed conflict or troubled areas. 36. A number of these PMSCs are members of the International Peace Organization Association (IPOA), a non-profit trade association which promotes the activities and image of its member firms. The British Association of Private Security Companies (BAPSC), was launched to promote the interests and regulate the activities of United Kingdom firms that provide armed defensive security services in countries outside the United Kingdom.40 According to its chairperson,41 the services the 23 members of the Association provide to Iraq are probably the largest export of the United Kingdom to that country. 37. Self-regulation is promoted by both IPOA and BAPSC, which have both adopted a voluntary code of conduct integrating some human rights and international humanitarian norms. However, the Working Group considers that there are obvious limitations of self-regulatory initiatives and accountability merely to stockholders, if these measures are to the exclusion of external oversight and enforcement mechanisms to monitor the activities of those companies or that of their employees. C. Recruitment, working conditions and compensation of “private security guards” 38. The Working Group is concerned that private contractors perform military and quasi-military tasks in situations of conflict. PMSC employees often find themselves working in a situation of armed conflict where they are constantly exposed to “great risk and immediate danger” in a “hostile environment” including but not limited to “the threats inherent in a war situation”.42 Recruited by PMSC these individuals often operate in a grey area with limited oversight or army control. Most of them are neither nationals of one of the parties to the conflict nor residents of the country in conflict. Although they were not specifically recruited to take part in hostilities, their contracts did not specify either that they would receive military training and 37 E. Krahmann, “Regulating Private Military Companies: What Role for the EU?”, Contemporary Security Policy, vol. 26, No. 1 (April 2005). 38 In 2006, it acquired Kroll Security International, a London security company which operates in Iraq. Four of the British nationals kidnapped in Baghdad in May 2007 worked for GardaWorld. David Pallister, The Guardian, cited in Courrier International, 30 May 2007. 39 “Nouveaux mercenaires: que fait la Suisse?”, Plateforme d’information humanrights.ch. 40 See: www.bapsc.org.uk and www.sourcewatch.org. One of the major British PMSCs in Iraq allegedly supply hired Gurkhas, Fijian paramilitaries and former SAS veterans. See I. Traynor, “The privatization of war”, The Guardian, 10 December 2003. 41 A former civil servant of the British Department for International Development. 42 A/HRC/4/42/Add.1, para 33.