A/HRC/27/50 and prohibited others, such as personnel protecting people; and some required special permits for the acquisition and possession of weapons and firearms. Some States prohibit PSC personnel from acquiring and possessing specific types of weapons and firearms, or prohibited the acquisition and possession of weapons and firearms for specific purposes. Only the legislation of Tunisia5 refers specially to illegal acquisition of firearms and the consequences relating thereto. Moreover, the regulatory approaches regarding the use of force and firearms are rather divergent; some States entirely prohibit the use of force and firearms in all situations, except for self-defence, while others permit the use of force in accordance with conditions prescribed in the relevant laws and regulations. 21. Most States appear to have a monitoring system carried out by the office that authorizes/licenses PSCs, which makes announced or unannounced, regular or ad-hoc inspections and reviews regular or ad-hoc reports on infractions or violations of the law committed by the PSC personnel. However, in general, the relevant laws do not provide rules on the content of the monitoring procedure, but focus mostly on administrative sanctions, such as warnings, fines, temporary suspension of the activities of the PSC, withdrawal of authorization or seizure of weapons and firearms. The laws rarely refer to penal and civil sanctions. None of the laws reviewed contain provisions regarding personnel compliance with the standards of international human rights and humanitarian law or guarantees for effective remedy to victims. 22. While all the States reviewed have ratified the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), which defines the term “mercenary”, and the majority are party to the Organization of African Unity Convention for the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa, only Cameroon and Senegal have ratified the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries.6 2. Scope of the legislation 23. The legislation of seven of the States analysed address the issue of private security companies.7 These laws provide for “private security companies”8 or “private security and guard companies”,9 with the general meaning of guard and protection services provided to persons and property or goods.10 However, none of the legislation covers private military companies (PMCs) or addresses direct participation of PMSC personnel in hostilities. 24. While the legislation of Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali prohibits PSC personnel from carrying out certain acts related to activities of the police and the armed forces,11 it is not clear whether the related provisions apply in times of peace as well as during armed conflicts. None of the laws regulate the export of security or 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Tunisia, Decree No. 2002-81, art. 34. General Assembly resolution 44/34, annex. The Cameroonian legislation, Decree No. 2005/031, does not contain any specific details on the nature of private security activities. Laws of Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tunisia. Laws of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Senegal. Burkina Faso, Law No. 032/2003, art. 23, and Decree No. 2009-343, art. 2; Côte d’Ivoire, Decree No. 2005-73, art. 2, para. 1; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ministerial Decree No. 98/008, art. 1; Morocco, Law No. 27-06, art. 1; Senegal, Decree No. 2003-447; and Tunisia, Decree No. 2002-81, art. 1 (a). Côte d’Ivoire, Decree No. 2005-73, art. 8, and Decree No.743/2008, art. 6, para. 2; Mali, Decree No. 96-020, art. 12; and Democratic Republic of the Congo, art. 6, para. 2, and Ministerial Decree No. 98/008, art. 7, concerning acts such as maintaining public order, patrolling, arresting, detaining and carrying and using firearms. 7