RES/33/4 The use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination

GE.16-17235(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-third session

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 29 September 2015

33/4. The use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights

and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-

determination

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling all previous resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the Human

Rights Council and the Commission on Human Rights on the subject, including Assembly

resolution 64/151 of 18 December 2009 and Council resolutions 10/11 of 26 March 2009,

15/12 of 30 September 2010, 15/26 of 1 October 2010, 18/4 of 29 September 2011, 24/13

of 26 September 2013, 27/10 of 25 September 2014 and 30/6 of 1 October 2015,

Recalling also all relevant resolutions that, inter alia, condemn any State that permits

or tolerates the recruitment, financing, training, assembly, transit or use of mercenaries with

the objective of overthrowing the Governments of States Members of the United Nations,

especially those of developing countries, or of fighting against national liberation

movements, and recalling further the relevant resolutions and international instruments

adopted by the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council,

the African Union and the Organization of African Unity, inter alia, the Organization of

African Unity Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa,

Recalling further Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of

the Council, and 5/2, on the Code of Conduct for special procedure mandate holders of the

Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that all mandate holders shall discharge their duties

in accordance with these resolutions and the annexes thereto,

Reaffirming the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United

Nations concerning the strict observance of the principles of sovereign equality, political

independence, the territorial integrity of States, the self-determination of peoples, the non-

use of force or threat of use of force in international relations and non-interference in affairs

within the domestic jurisdiction of States,

Reaffirming also that, by virtue of the principle of self-determination, all peoples

have the right to determine freely their political status and to pursue freely their economic,

social and cultural development, and that every State has the duty to respect this right in

accordance with the provisions of the Charter,

Reaffirming further the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning

Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the

United Nations,1

Alarmed and concerned about the threat posed by the activities of mercenaries to

peace and security in developing countries in various parts of the world, in particular in

areas of conflict,

Deeply concerned at the loss of life, the substantial damage to property and the

negative effects on the policies and economies of affected countries resulting from

international criminal mercenary activities,

Extremely alarmed and concerned about recent mercenary activities in developing

countries in various parts of the world, in particular in areas of conflict, and about the threat

they pose to the integrity of and to respect for the constitutional order of the countries

affected,

Recalling the holding of regional consultations in all five regions from 2007 to 2011,

in which participants noted that the enjoyment and the 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, and expressing its

appreciation to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for

its support for the holding of those consultations,

Convinced that, regardless of the way in which mercenaries or mercenary-related

activities are used or the form that they take to acquire a semblance of legitimacy, they are

a threat to peace, security and the self-determination of peoples and an obstacle to the

enjoyment of human rights by peoples,

1. Reaffirms that the use of mercenaries, and their recruitment, financing,

protection and training, are causes for grave concern to all States and violate the purposes

and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

2. Recognizes that armed conflicts, terrorism, arms trafficking and covert

operations by third Powers encourage, inter alia, the demand for mercenaries and for

private military and security companies on the global market;

3. Urges once again all States to take the necessary steps and to exercise the

utmost vigilance against the threat posed by the activities of mercenaries, and to take

legislative measures to ensure that their territories and other territories under their control,

and their nationals, are not used for the recruitment, assembly, financing, training,

protection and transit of mercenaries for the planning of activities designed to impede the

right to self-determination, to overthrow the Government of any State or to dismember or to

impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and

independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the right of peoples to self-

determination;

4. Requests all States to exercise the utmost vigilance against any kind of

recruitment, training, hiring or financing of mercenaries;

5. Also requests all States to exercise the utmost vigilance in banning the use of

private companies offering international military consultancy and security services when

intervening in armed conflicts or actions to destabilize constitutional regimes;

1 General Assembly resolution 2625 (XXV), annex.

6. Encourages States that import the military assistance, consultancy and

security services provided by private companies to establish national regulatory

mechanisms for the registering and licensing of those companies and for accountability and

remedies for violations resulting from activities conducted by those companies, in order to

ensure that imported services provided by those private companies neither impede the

enjoyment of human rights nor violate human rights in the recipient country;

7. Emphasizes its utmost concern about the impact of the activities of private

military and security companies on the enjoyment of human rights, in particular when

operating in armed conflicts, in privatized prisons and immigration-related detention

facilities and in the extractive industries, and notes that private military and security

companies and their personnel are rarely held accountable for violations of human rights;

8. Calls upon all States that have not yet become a party to the International

Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries to

consider taking the necessary action to do so;

9. Welcomes the cooperation extended by those countries that were visited 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, and the adoption by

some States of national legislation that restricts the recruitment, assembly, financing,

training and transit of mercenaries;

10. Condemns mercenary activities in developing countries in various parts of the

world, in particular in areas of conflict, and the threat they pose to the integrity of and

to respect for the constitutional order of those countries and to the exercise of the right to

self-determination of their peoples, and stresses the importance for the Working Group of

looking into sources and root causes, and into the political motivations of mercenaries and

for mercenary-related activities;

11. Calls upon States to investigate the possibility of mercenary and mercenary-

related involvement whenever and wherever criminal acts of a terrorist nature occur and to

bring to trial those found responsible or to consider their extradition, if so requested, in

accordance with national law and applicable bilateral or international treaties;

12. Condemns any form of impunity granted to perpetrators of mercenary

activities and to those responsible for the use, recruitment, financing and training of

mercenaries, and urges all States, in accordance with their obligations under international

law, to bring them, without distinction, to justice;

13. Calls upon the international community and all States, in accordance with

their obligations under international law, to cooperate with and assist the judicial

prosecution of those accused of mercenary activities, in transparent, open and fair trials;

14. Acknowledges with appreciation the work and contributions of the Working

Group, including its research activities, and takes note of its most recent report;2

15. Recalls the holding of the fourth session 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, expresses satisfaction at the participation of experts, including of

the members of the Working Group, as resource persons in the above-mentioned session,

and requests the Working Group and other experts to continue their participation in the

2 A/HRC/33/43.

open-ended intergovernmental working group and to submit contributions for its fifth

session;

16. Recommends that all Member States, including those confronted with the

phenomenon of private military and security companies, as contracting States, States of

operations, home States or States whose nationals are employed to work for a private

military or security company, contribute to the work of the open-ended intergovernmental

working group, taking into account the work carried out by the Working Group;

17. Requests the Working Group to continue the work already carried out by

previous mandate holders on the strengthening of the international legal framework for the

prevention and sanction of the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries,

taking into account the proposal for a new legal definition of the term “mercenary” drafted

by the Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights

and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination in his report

submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixtieth session,3 and also the

evolving phenomenon of mercenaries and its related forms;

18. Reiterates its requests to the Office of the High Commissioner to, as a matter

of priority, publicize the adverse effects of the activities of mercenaries and private

companies offering military assistance, consultancy and other military and security-related

services on the international market on the right of peoples to self-determination and, when

requested and where necessary, render advisory services to States that are affected by those

activities;

19. Requests the Working Group to continue to monitor mercenaries and

mercenary-related activities in all their forms and manifestations, and private military and

security companies, in different parts of the world, including instances of protection

provided by Governments to individuals involved in mercenary activities, and to continue

to update the database of individuals convicted of mercenary activities;

20. Also requests the Working Group to continue to study and identify sources

and causes, emerging issues, manifestations and trends with regard to mercenaries and

mercenary-related activities and their impact on human rights, particularly on the right of

peoples to self-determination;

21. Renews, for a period of three years, the mandate of the Working Group, for it

to continue to undertake the tasks described by the Human Rights Council in its resolution

7/21 of 28 March 2008 and in all other relevant resolutions on the subject;

22. Urges all States to cooperate fully with the Working Group in the fulfilment

of its mandate;

23. Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide the

Working Group with all the assistance and support necessary for the fulfilment of its

mandate, both professional and financial, including by promoting cooperation between the

Working Group and other components of the United Nations system that deal with

countering mercenary-related activities, in order to meet the demands of its current and

future activities;

24. Requests the Working Group to consult States, intergovernmental and non-

governmental organizations and other relevant civil society actors in the implementation of

the present resolution, and to report its findings on the use of mercenaries as a means of

violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-

3 E/CN.4/2004/15.

determination to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session and to the Human

Rights Council at its thirty-sixth session;

25. Decides to continue its consideration of this matter under the same agenda

item at its thirty-sixth session.

38th meeting

29 September 2016

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 32 to 13, with 2 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour:

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Botswana, Burundi,

China, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, India,

Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia,

Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi

Arabia, South Africa, Togo, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela (Bolivarian

Republic of), Viet Nam

Against:

Albania, Belgium, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal,

Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Abstaining:

Ghana, Mexico]