A/HRC/18/32 29. On 22 February 2011, the Chairperson-Rapporteur delivered a joint statement of special procedures mandate holders to the Human Rights Council at its fifteenth special session. 30. On 22 March 2011, the Chairperson-Rapporteur attended a conference at the Catalan International Institute for Peace in Barcelona on the theme “The new private providers of the physical use of force in the twenty-first century”, which was organized in conjunction with the launching of the book Hacia la regulación internacional de las empresas militares y de seguridad privadas, authored by Mr. Gómez del Prado and Helena Torroja. Mr. Gómez del Prado also authored additional articles, including “Privatising security and war”, in Forced Migration Review, in March 2011; “A UN instrument to regulate and monitor private military and security contractors”, in the Notre Dame Journal of International, Comparative, & Human Rights Law, in April 2011; “Privatizing and commercializing the use of force: accountability and implications for local communities”, in Rethinking Transitions; and “Impact on human rights of a new non-State actor: private military and security companies”, in The Brown Journal of World Affairs (Fall/winter 2011). He was also requested to endorse The Small Arms Survey 2011: States of Security, which provides an insight into key trends in security provision around the world. 31. On 28 April 2011, the Chairperson-Rapporteur gave a presentation on the draft convention elaborated by the Working Group at the Final Conference in Brussels of the PRIV-WAR Project, an academic project funded by the European Commission on private military and security companies, human rights, humanitarian law and the role of the European Union. On 17 May 2011, he discussed the draft convention elaborated by the Working Group at the conference “Armées privées: situation en Suisse et dans le monde”, sponsored by Centre Europe-Tiers Monde and Groupe pour une Suisse sans armée. 32. From 23 to 25 March 2011, Ms. Benavides de Pérez participated in the thirteenth Congress of the Latin-American Association of Asia and Africa Studies, held in Bogota, which focused on the theme, “The new south: theories and practices about Asia, Africa and Latin America in the twenty-first century”. She delivered a presentation on the use of mercenaries and contractors in Equatorial Guinea, Afghanistan and Colombia. On 12 and 13 May 2011, she participated in a regional consultation on the Montreux Document in Santiago. Ms. Benavides de Pérez presented as part of a panel on international initiatives. 33. The activities of the Working Group on mercenaries were widely covered by the international media, including BBC World News, TVE (Spain), TV3 of Barcelona, Radio Catalunya, US National Public Radio Talk of the Nation, El Mundo, Público, Le Courrier (Geneva), Foreign Policy (Spanish edition), L’Humanité, El País and Mainichi Shimbun. III. Activities and achievements of the mandate 34. In the past six years, the Working Group (a) undertook country visits; (b) sent and received communications; (c) organized regional consultations with Member States; and (d) elaborated elements of a possible draft convention on private military and security companies. Each of the above activities is described in detail below. A. Country visits 35. Since the Working Group was established, it has undertaken 11 country visits to examine the situations in countries regarding mercenaries and/or private military and security companies. In the course of its visits, it engaged in a constructive dialogue with Governments, international organizations, representatives of civil society, private military and security companies and other relevant stakeholders. In particular, the Working Group examined the national legislative and policy frameworks in these countries and their 9