بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم Statement By Mr. Mahdi Aliabadi Deputy Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office and other Organizations  Before The Human Rights Council 51th Session Item 3: ID with 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   Geneva, 20 September 2022     Mr. President, My delegation thanks the working group for its report entitled “Access to justice, accountability and remedies for victims of mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and security companies” (A/HRC/51/25).   Mr. President, Our world today is facing a huge proliferation of private military and security companies, especially in the West Asia region, and many of these companies feel unbridled and unrestrained in their activities, particularly when they are deployed by States during armed conflicts. We need to take lessons from the past horrible cases of massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere where innocent civilians were massacred torture and abused in cold blood by personnel of military companies. Unfortunately, these atrocities were almost never prosecuted by any court of law or by any human rights mechanism.   Mr. President, My delegation expresses its deep concern over the lack of transparency, oversight and accountability on the use of mercenaries and private military and security services, especially during the time of conflicts. There should be some measures in place to ensure accountability and assurance of non-recurrence of massive violations of human rights law and humanitarian law by these actors. We need to work together to develop an international legal framework to regulate the activities of private military companies, to fill the existing accountability gaps in international law, to ensure the responsibility of relevant states for misconduct and crime by members of those companies and rights of victims  to access to an effective remedy, redress and compensation.   I thank you, Mr. President.