CYIL 2014

355

PRIVATE MILITARY CONTRACTORS, PARAMILITARIES AND MERCENARIES …

are made to activities and involvement by the United States in the overthrow of the

former Ukrainian government and support for the current regime, as well as Russian

support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, then both sides may be found

to have committed acts of aggression. Yet, if the international community stands by

and no accountability is upheld, the criminality of aggression may lose any footing

it had achieved.

4. Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

Regardless of the potential responsibility for any mercenaries, private military

contractors or paramilitaries operating in Ukraine, or whether recent development

in Ukraine could be attributable to aggression by other States, if peace is to find its

way back into the region, the fighters will have to be disarmed, demobilized and

reintegrated into society. This will be critical not only for peace in the region, but

also for preventing future violence. At present, there is fear that “[e]ven if there is a

negotiated solution to the ongoing conflict—itself an unlikely development—it may

not be sufficient to halt the cycle of violence across the Donetsk region.”

Therefore,

it is crucial that a functional Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

program is created and well-rooted. The United Nations has established the Integral

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Standards, which are a

comprehensive set of policies, guidelines and procedures that were derived from

the experience of all UN agencies and programs involved in DDR.

Although

not binding, these Standards can provide a backdrop for understanding Ukraine’s

general requirements for conducting a successful DDR process with the separatists

or other armed groups. While the Ukrainian Parliament made attempts to order

police to disarm any unofficial armed groups, these efforts were largely futile and

unsuccessful. However, the effectiveness of the future DDR process will be crucial

to re-stabilizing the region. With the high tensions involved in the Ukraine crisis,

and the disparity between the cultures and beliefs of the people, it is essential that an

effective DDR process is achieved in order to restore some level of peace to the region

and to avoid a re-ignition of the tensions. Clearly, there will need to be real political

changes accompanying the DDR of the armed groups, but DDR will be vital for the

communities to rebuild and live in peace. Accordingly, the DDR’s overarching aim is

to contribute to security and stability in post-conflict environments so that recovery

and development can begin. The DDR of ex-combatants is a complex process, with

political, military, security, humanitarian and socio-economic dimensions…Through

a process of removing weapons from the hands of combatants, taking the combatants

out of military structures and helping them to integrate socially and economically

Jaffa,

supra

note 11.

United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Center, available at http://