A/HRC/18/32 46. Over the past six years, the Working Group sent a total of 35 allegation letters to 25 Governments3 and three urgent appeals to two Governments.4 The Working Group has also sent five reminder letters and three follow-up letters to request further information. 47. Communications concerned many issues arising in connection with the activities of mercenaries and private military and security companies. Some addressed serious human rights violations, including the alleged unlawful killings of civilians. Others addressed registration and licensing procedures, the use of third-country nationals by private military and security companies abroad, the recruitment and training of such personnel, and their conditions of employment and treatment by the companies. The Working Group also noted alleged threats and violence against human rights defenders by private security companies and the use of private security companies to carry out deportations. 48. Although the Working Group regularly sends reminder letters when a Government does not reply to a specific allegation letter or urgent appeal, 11 Governments failed to respond to any of the Working Group’s communications.5 49. The Working Group expresses its appreciation to those Governments that have provided substantive replies to its communications and invites those that have not done so to cooperate with its mandate. C. Regional consultations 50. In its resolution 62/145, the General Assembly requested the Working Group to hold regional consultations on traditional and new forms of mercenary activities as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to selfdetermination, in particular regarding the effects of the activities of private military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights.6 51. Pursuant to the above-mentioned resolutions, the Working Group held regional consultations in all five regions from 2007 to 2009. The consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean were held in Panama, in December 2007. It was followed by the consultation for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in Moscow, in October 2008; the consultation for Asia and the Pacific, in Bangkok, in October 2009; the consultation for Africa, in Addis Ababa, in March 2010; and the consultation for the Western European and Others Group, in Geneva, in April 2010. 52. Participants in the regional consultations noted that the enjoyment and exercise of human rights were increasingly impeded by the emergence of several new challenges and trends relating to mercenaries or their activities and by the role played by private military and security companies registered, operating or recruiting personnel in each region. Participants discussed the expansion of the operations of such companies in each region and the use in some places of private security guards instead of national police or security forces. They exchanged views regarding such companies’ practices and the implications of 3 Afghanistan, Australia, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Chile, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Liberia, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Romania, South Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. 4 Guinea and Honduras. 5 Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Guinea, Liberia, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Peru. 6 12 See also Human Rights Council resolution 10/11.