A/HRC/4/42 page 4 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination was established in 2005 pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/2 and assumed by the Human Rights Council in its decision 1/102. It replaced the prior mandate of the Special Rapporteur (established in 1987). According to its mandate, the Working Group is requested, inter alia, to elaborate and present concrete proposals on possible new standards, general guidelines or basic principles encouraging the further protection of human rights; to seek opinions and contributions from Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations; to monitor mercenaries and mercenary-related activities in all their forms and manifestations. 2. On 19 December 2006, during its sixty-first session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 61/151 by which, inter alia, it requested all States to exercise the utmost vigilance against any kind of recruitment, training, hiring or financing of mercenaries by private companies offering international military consultancy and security services, as well as to impose a specific ban on such companies intervening in armed conflicts or actions to destabilize constitutional regimes. The General Assembly further requested the Working Group to continue the work already done by the previous Special Rapporteurs on the strengthening of the international legal framework for the prevention and sanction of the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries, taking into account the proposal for a new legal definition of a mercenary, as drafted by the first Special Rapporteur. It further requested the Working Group to take into account, in the discharge of its mandate, the fact that mercenary activities continue to occur in many parts of the world and are taking on new forms, manifestations and modalities, and, in this regard, requests its members to continue to pay particular attention to the impact of the activities of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and security services on the international market on the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. 3. For the purposes of this report, and while recognizing the definitional challenges, the Working Group refers to private military and private security companies (hereinafter PMSCs) as including private companies which perform all kinds of security assistance, training, provision and consulting services, including unarmed logistical support, armed security guards, and those involved in defensive or offensive military activities. 4. During 2006, the Working Group was composed of the following experts: Ms. Najat Al-Hajjaji (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Ms. Amada Benavides de Pérez (Colombia), Mr. José Luis Gómez del Prado (Spain), Mr. Alexander Nikitin (Russian Federation) and Ms. Shaista Shameem (Fiji). Ms. Amada Benavides de Pérez was elected Chairperson-Rapporteur in October 2005, a position that rotates on an annual basis. By unanimous decision of the Working Group in November 2006, the term of the current Chairperson-Rapporteur was extended until the next session of the Working Group in 2007. I. ACTIVITIES OF THE WORKING GROUP A. Overview of activities 5. The Working Group held its first session in Geneva from 10 to 14 October 2005 and from 13 to 17 February 2006 (E/CN.4/2006/11 and Add.1). It adopted its methods of work