Third Country National
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Third Country National (TCN) describes individuals of other nationalities hired by a government or government sanctioned contractor who represent neither the contracting government nor the host country or area of operations. This is most often those performing on government contracts in the role of a private military contractor.
Generally speaking, governments classify contract personnel under one of three headings:
- Ex-pat - those personnel who are of the same nationality as the contracting government.
- TCN or Third Country Nationals – those personnel of a separate nationality to both the contracting government and the AO or "Area of operations".
- Indigs or Indigenous Personnel – those personnel who are indigenous to the area of operations.
Examples of this hierarchy are as follows:
Contract personnel being used by the US government to fight the global war on terror in Iraq consist of Expats, namely those personnel of US citizenship that represent a private military contractor being contracted by the US Government, Indigenous Iraqi and Kurdish personnel and TCNs such as the Chilean and Nepalese personnel currently being employed by many of the Private Military Contracting Firms currently under contract.
In regards to the war in Iraq, TCNs are typically foreigners from Nepal, the Phillipines, Pakistan, and India. They are often treated like 2nd class citzens. The accomodations, security, and treatment of TCNs varies greatly from the way U.S. and Multinational Coalition personnel are treated. They have to work for 2 years in country continously with no break to return to their families. Many TCN housing compounds are in areas which are outside of the main base and are not as secure as the main base. TCNs are considered to be cheap, expendable labor as their deaths do not make news headlines at the major news stations. Additionally, there have been instances of TCNs being used-willing and unwilling- as prostitutes.
