A/HRC/36/36 Report of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to consider the possibility of elaborating an international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies on its sixth session I. Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council decided, in its resolution 15/26, to establish an openended intergovernmental working group with the mandate to consider the possibility of elaborating an international regulatory framework, including, inter alia, the option of elaborating a legally binding instrument on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies, including their accountability, taking into consideration the principles, main elements and draft text as proposed by 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. After an initial extension pursuant to resolution 22/3, the Council decided, in its resolution 28/7 of 26 March 2015, to extend the mandate of the open-ended intergovernmental working group for a further period of two and a half years in order for it to undertake and fulfil its mandate. 2. The sixth session, held from 22 to 24 May 2017, was opened by the Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He noted that the discussions and work during the past six years had contributed to a greater understanding of the range of complex issues associated with the activities of private military and security companies. The vast amount of information contained in the reports from the previous sessions, and the discussions during the sixth session, would help to develop and shape the conclusions and recommendations to be submitted to the Council at its thirty-sixth session. 3. He referred to the efforts made by the Chair-Rapporteur in order to build consensus among the delegations around certain outstanding issues that had arisen from the previous sessions, including meetings of the regional coordinators and the informal working consultation held on 15 May 2017, which was open to all Member States. Following the consultation, a draft discussion document on elements for an international regulatory framework on the regulation, monitoring and oversight of the activities of private military and security companies (see section III, below) had been shared with all Member States in order to facilitate the discussions during the sixth session. Furthermore, a compilation of recommendations from the previous five sessions of the open-ended intergovernmental working group had been prepared by the Secretariat and was shared with the delegations. 1 4. From a human rights perspective, he stressed the importance of ensuring that there was no gap in protection from human rights abuses; whenever such abuses were committed by private military and security companies, victims should have access to an effective remedy. Accountability and justice related to the abuses committed by private military and security companies required robust monitoring and reporting, immediate cessation of abuses and establishment of accountability mechanisms. In cases in which human rights abuses occurred, States had the obligation not to let them go unpunished. The lack of accountability for abuses of human rights owing to recourse to private military and security companies, including in complex situations, posed serious concerns. In that context, he recalled the activities carried out by OHCHR, various special procedure mandate holders and the Council referred to in the report of the fifth session (A/HRC/WG.10/5/2). He also highlighted the panel discussion organized in April 2017 by the Working Group on mercenaries, which had focused on the impact of private security companies on the situation of human rights in places of deprivation of liberty. As current trends in various countries indicated that States could increase the practice of offering contracts to private 1 2 See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGMilitary/Pages/OEIWGMilitarySession6.aspx.