A/HRC/24/45 Security Service Providers in Washington, D.C., organized by Amnesty International and the Rockefeller Foundation. 16. On 5 February 2013, Mr. Rona presented a paper on the work of the Working Group at the University of Minnesota School of Law. 17. On 5 April 2013, Mr. Rona organized a panel on accountability of PMSCs at the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C., and Ms. Patel participated as a panellist. 18. On 11 April 2013, Ms. Patel and Mr. Rona hosted a delegation from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy to discuss contemporary challenges involving the activities of PMSCs. III. Research on national regulation on PMSCs A. Introduction 19. As indicated in last year’s report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/21/43, paras. 24–26), the Working Group believes that it is critical to study and identify legislative approaches regarding the activities of PMSCs and to assess the effectiveness of such legislation in protecting human rights and promoting accountability for violations. Such a study would inform the Working Group’s efforts to demonstrate the need for a legally binding international instrument regulating the activities of the industry. In addition, it would assist in identifying good practices and may inform future projects to develop guidance for Member States seeking to regulate PMSCs. 20. For the purpose of this study, the Working Group sent a letter to all Member States requesting copies of publicly available laws and regulations relating to PMSCs on 9 May 2012. A reminder of this request was sent on 26 June 2012. The Working Group would like to thank all Member States which submitted such laws and regulations. 21. Parallel to this request, the Working Group has been conducting independent research on national legislation relating to PMSCs on a region-by-region basis. The first phase of the research focused on samples of English-speaking countries in Africa and the present report presents the Working Group’s findings of this research. The next phase of the study will focus on French-speaking African countries, followed by other regions of the world. 22. The African countries analysed in the present report are Botswana, Ghana, the Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 23. The study found that, with the exception of South Africa, none of the countries reviewed had legislation that covered the export of military or security services. Several countries did, however, have laws regulating domestic private security companies. The main topics addressed in the survey were: (a) whether the legislation in these countries covers both private military companies and private security companies; (b) whether the legislation applies to the export of security and/or military services beyond their borders; and (c) whether or not such laws, if in place, apply extraterritorially. The study also highlights requirements for the establishment of a PMSC, including relevant licensing and registration mechanisms. The question of whether there are laws and/or regulations dealing with the use of force and firearms and with trafficking of weapons by both security and military service providers was also reviewed. The enactment of laws aimed at implementing international instruments on mercenaries is also addressed. 6