A/HRC/21/43 conflict and particular types of activities related to armed conflict. Their experience in seeking to use these concepts demonstrates some of the challenges in this field. 60. The initial legislation passed in South Africa, the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act (No. 15 of 1998), covered the provision of military assistance to a party to an armed conflict and the provision of security services in an armed conflict. The term “armed conflict” itself was, however, loosely defined to include any armed conflict between the armed forces of foreign States, the armed forces of a foreign State and dissident armed forces or other armed groups, or armed groups. This loose definition could allow private military and security companies to avoid seeking authorization on the grounds that a particular situation did not rise to the level of an armed conflict. As the Working Group learned during its country visit, the loose definition has also hampered prosecutions because of the need to present expert witnesses to testify that a given situation constituted 21 armed conflict. Another issue arising from the scope of the law is that some companies have claimed that they are providing humanitarian services, rather than military assistance 22 or security services, and are therefore not required to obtain permission. 61. In enacting the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and Regulation of Certain Activities in Country of Armed Conflict Act (No. 27 of 2006), South Africa sought to close those loopholes by requiring permission for the rendering of military assistance or security services to countries that have been declared “regulated” by the President on the recommendation of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee. It also specifically covers the rubric of humanitarian activities, the exclusion of which in the previous law had allowed some private military and security companies to evade the authorization process. 62. Switzerland has taken a somewhat different approach, providing the authorities with an indicative list of factors that may be “contrary to the aims of the law” to consider when deciding whether to license particular activities of private military and security companies. The authorities may, for example, consider whether a private military and security company’s activities would take place in international or internal armed conflict, “a crisis or conflict zone (defined as a zone in which an international or internal armed conflict exists; a zone of internal tension or internal disorder not constituting an armed conflict; and a zone in which human rights are systematically and seriously violated), or “a confrontation connected with internal tension or internal disorder”. Other activities potentially contrary to the aims of the law include providing “operational or logistic support for foreign armed or security forces”, or services “in the field of military know-how”. The use of the inclusive phrasing “contrary to the aims of the law” would also provide the competent authority with the flexibility to prohibit other potentially objectionable activities of private military and security companies. 63. In the United States, legislative efforts to extend jurisdiction over private military and security companies and their employees have generally referenced United States military operations abroad and have sought to ensure that contractors involved in such missions – even when not engaged by the Department of Defense – are covered. For example, when extending the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act to cover nonDepartment of Defense contractors, Congress maintained a link to Department of Defense missions, applying the law to contractors “supporting the mission of the Department of 21 22 Ibid., para. 37. Marina Caparini, “Overview of national regulatory systems for the commercial export of military and security services: the United States and South Africa”, in Private Military/Security Companies Operating in Situations of Armed Conflict: Proceedings of the Bruges Colloquium (19-20 October 2006), p. 61. 15