A/HRC/39/49 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 Contents Page I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Activities of the Working Group ................................................................................................... 4 A. III. IV. 2 Thirty-second, thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions of the Working Group and new members ................................................................................................................. 4 B. Country visits ........................................................................................................................ 4 C. Other activities of the Working Group members .................................................................. 4 Recruitment of children by non-State armed groups, including mercenaries, and private military and security companies ................................................................................. 5 A. International legal framework and complementary non-binding initiatives ......................... 5 B. Mercenaries and foreign fighters .......................................................................................... 7 C. Recruitment practices ........................................................................................................... 7 D. Motivational factors that result in children being associated with non-State armed groups ........................................................................................................ 8 E. Human rights impact ............................................................................................................. 10 F. Gender perspective ............................................................................................................... 11 G. Private military and security companies and former child soldiers ...................................... 11 H. Responses to children associated with non-State armed groups ........................................... 12 Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................................... 14