The Drafting process of the International Code of Conduct From February 19th to 22nd 2013, National Governments, Private Military & Security Companies and Civil Society Organizations will meet in Montreux (Switzerland) to advance the drafting of the International Code of Conduct (ICoC) for Private Security Providers’ document. The International Coalition to Control PMSC will participate in the drafting process of the ICoC to raise the voice of civil society and ensure that an effective governance and oversight mechanisms accompany this social corporate responsibility process. The position of Control PMSC is reflected in the Civil Society Statement on ICoCattached. Concretely, the International Coalition to Control PMSC considers:

• The ICoC and its oversight mechanisms can not substitute statutory national and international binding regulations;
• The ICoC should be cleared about the responsibilities of States participating in this process, and define its coordination and relation with national regulatory frameworks;
• The ICoC does not establish a credible third-party claims mechanism that can truly ensure remedy for victims. The Drafting process of the ICoC under the auspices of the Federal Deparment of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Governement is a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to both clarify international standards for the private security industry operating in complex environments, as well as to improve oversight and accountability of these companies. This soft-law instrument is voluntary and thus, Private Security and Military Companies will became members and accept the main dispositions of the document. The ICoC is composed mainly by 3 components: certification, oversight and third- party claims. Each component has its rules and procedures. The objective of the drafting conference in Montreux is to advance the oversight mechanism and define those stakeholders interested to participate through the instrument of adoption. The International Coalition to Control PMSC is in favour of any multi-stakeholder dialogue process and opportunity to raise visibility and increase transparency on the PMSC’s sector. However, the Coalition disagrees with key aspects of the ICoC document itself such us the definition and scope of activities that PMSC can perform. Therefore, the Coalition Control PMSC intends to advance an external, independent and effective oversight mechanism with a clear sanction system, and coherent with the certification and third-party claim components of the ICoC. This does not affect our critics and amendments to the general ICoC document and our strong support for binding international instruments and statutory national regulations. To follow the happenings of the event: Twitter #controlpmsc Blog of the Internacional Coalition Control PMSC: http://www.controlpmsc.org Or contact with Felipe Daza Sierra felip@nova.cat ;