A/HRC/45/18 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 11 September 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fifth session 14 September–2 October 2020 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 open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, to protect human rights and ensure accountability for violations and abuses relating to the activities of private military and security companies on its second session Note by the Secretariat* 1. The second session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, to protect human rights and ensure accountability for violations and abuses relating to the activities of private military and security companies, which was to be held from 11 to 15 May 2020, did not take place due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 2. The open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, to protect human rights and ensure accountability for violations and abuses relating to the activities of private military and security companies will therefore submit to the Human Rights Council its reportat a future date to be determined. * The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments. GE.20-11736(E) 