A/HRC/15/25 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 5 July 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of 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 Chairperson/Rapporteur: José Luis Gómez del Prado Summary 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 July 2005 pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/2. The Working Group is composed of José Luis Gómez del Prado (Spain), Chair during the time of the preparation of this report, Shaista Shameem (Fiji), Amada Benavides de Peréz (Colombia), Alexander Nikitin (Russian Federation) and Najat al-Hajjaji (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya). Ms. Shameem took on the chair of the Working Group from April 2009 to April 2010. The present report is submitted in accordance with resolution 10/11 of 26 March 2009 requesting the Working Group to report on the progress achieved in the elaboration of a draft legal instrument for proper consideration and action by the Human Rights Council. Chapter I introduces the report and Chapter II presents an overview of activities undertaken during the reporting period, including a summary of its missions to Afghanistan and the United States of America and of its regional consultations held in Asia, Africa and Europe. Chapter III describes the progress achieved by the Working Group towards the elaboration of a possible new draft convention on private military and security companies. It summarizes the core rationale for the Working Group’s proposals on the adoption of a new legal instrument on private military and security companies, its scope of application and its content. The report also provides a summary of the consultation process and the comments received from Member States and non-governmental entities on the proposed convention. Finally, the Working Group recommends Member States to carefully consider the present draft proposal for a possible new international legal instrument regulating private military and security companies and the Human Rights Council to establish an intergovernmental open-ended Working Group with the task of drafting a new convention GE.10-15155 (E) 110810