A/HRC/30/47 one of the greatest challenges was to ensure that the contracted private security companies had adequate internal oversight and accountability mechanisms, including complaint and performance reporting mechanisms, as recommended by the Working Group on mercenaries. Given current resource constraints, the United Nations had yet to allocate additional resources for establishing external monitoring mechanisms in order to ensure the proper execution of a given contract, and accountability of contracted companies and personnel with respect to improper or unlawful conduct. He also noted that, at the policy level, the main gap lay in the lack of an international normative framework on the use of private security companies, whether armed or unarmed. He stated that that issue could not be addressed by a single or even multiple international organizations. Key actors — including States in which private security companies were based or operated and the private armed security companies themselves — must also be involved in a formal process whereby a common and internationally agreed upon normative framework could be established. 71. In the discussion that followed, delegations raised questions about: (a) the number of countries in which the United Nations had engaged unarmed private security companies; (b) the involvement of private security companies in peacekeeping operations and whether any further increase in their involvement could be anticipated in the light of their greater use by States; and (c) whether there was a risk that companies contracted by the United Nations would participate directly as combatants or might be involved in interrogation or detention of prisoners of war. 72. The Under-Secretary-General replied that currently the United Nations employed unarmed security companies in 10 missions of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in 11 special political missions and in its support bases in Kenya and Spain, among others. He expressed the hope that there would be no need to increase their use, while noting the security and safety situation in which the United Nations operated. Such a decision was not taken lightly and would be a matter of last resort on the basis of security risk assessment and on the advice of the security team in the mission concerned. Finally, the UnderSecretary-General confirmed that private security companies employed by the United Nations neither participated directly as combatants nor were they involved in interrogation or detention of prisoners of war. The principal role of private security companies was the protection of United Nations personnel, premises and assets. 73. One delegation noted that while States might have different views on contracting private security companies, all States were part of the United Nations and probably recognized that their use by the Organization had become a practice, if not a necessity, for it to operate in certain situations. With reference to oversight and accountability, the delegation asked for further information on instances in which the United Nations had been called upon to take steps to prevent abuses and facilitate access to remedy. 74. In his response, the Under-Secretary-General reiterated that all measures were taken to ensure that international humanitarian law and human rights law were observed. Since his appointment and in the prior handover period, no abuses had been brought to light. There was a monthly review and Department of Safety and Security personnel had day-today responsibility for oversight. Furthermore, the process of recruitment was stringent and designed to minimize all abuses. Should any abuses occur, they were brought to the attention of the Under-Secretary-General. 75. The Chair-Rapporteur enquired about the possibility of sharing United Nations experience in using unarmed security companies, and its detailed standards and guidelines, as a basis for discussion and possible use by States. He also queried the extent to which, and under what conditions, national contingents of peacekeeping missions were allowed to use private military and security companies. One delegation asked about the security situation facing other humanitarian actors, and what collaboration the United Nations had 19