A/HRC/33/43 B. Communications 8. Since its previous report to the Human Rights Council, the Working Group sent communications jointly with other special procedures mandate holders to the Governments of Australia and Nauru concerning asylum seekers detained in the latter country.2 C. Country visits 9. The Working Group conducted official visits to Tunisia from 1 to 8 July 2015 (A/HRC/33/43/Add.1), to Belgium from 8 to 12 October 2015 (A/HRC/33/43/Add.2), to Ukraine from 14 to 18 March 2016 (A/HRC/33/43/Add.3) and to European Union institutions from 25 to 28 April 2016 (A/HRC/33/43/Add.4). D. Other activities of Working Group members 10. On 3 December 2015, Ms. Karska was a panellist at a public hearing in Brussels on the use of private security companies in the context of European security and defence organized by the Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. 11. Ms. Arias participated in an expert consultation on enforced disappearances and non-State actors in Rabat, Morocco, on 7 February 2016, organized by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the National Human Rights Council of Morocco. She was invited by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala to a meeting to discuss the situation of private security companies in the country, in particular the progress of related research. 12. Mr. Mokbil represented the Working Group at the Regional Conference on Private Military and Security Companies, held in Addis Ababa from 11 to 12 November 2015, co-hosted by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Addis Ababa University and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. He served as a panellist on the topic “Regional and international perspectives: the African Union and the work of the United Nations”. 13. Mr. Rona Served as a commentator for a discussion on the domestic side of the monopoly on the use of force at an event organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in New York on 10 March. III. Research on national legislation concerning private military and security companies A. Introduction 14. The Working Group continued its global study of national laws regarding private military and security companies to assess their effectiveness in protecting human rights and promoting accountability for violations. The study aims to identify any commonalities, good practices and regulatory gaps that may exist. 2 4 Summaries of the communications will be included in a report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-third session.

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