A/HRC/18/32 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 4 July 2011 Original: English Human Rights Council Eighteenth 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 In the present report, 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 selfdetermination provides an overview of activities undertaken during the reporting period, including a summary of its missions to Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Iraq, and the participation of the members as resource persons in the intergovernmental working group established by the Human Rights Council at its fifteenth session. The Working Group reviews the activities and achievements of the mandate since its establishment by the Commission on Human Rights in 2005, including its progress in the elaboration of a possible draft convention on private military and security companies (private military and security companies), the consultations held in each of the five geographic regions pursuant to General Assembly resolution 62/145, and the communications and country missions of the Working Group in the past six years. GE.11-14436