PERU PLANS ON SEEKING REVISION OF INTERNATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 004821

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2015
TAGS: PREL PHUM PARM MOPS PE
SUBJECT: PERU PLANS ON SEEKING REVISION OF INTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION AGAINST THE RECRUITMENT, USE, FINANCING AND
TRAINING OF MERCENARIES TO ENCOMPASS COMPANIES PROVIDING
SECURITY SERVICES

REF: A. LIMA 4654

B. LIMA 4596

C. LIMA 4544

Classified By: Political Counselor Alexander Margulies. Reason: 1.4(b
/d).


1. (U) Action Request in paragraph 5.


2. (C) SUMMARY: Peru is moving forward on signing and
ratifying the International Convention Against the
Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, and
plans to submit a report to the UN Secretary General that
will recommend revising the definition of mercenaries to
encompass companies providing security services. The GOP's
actions are being taken in response to political and media
pressure arising from the recruitment of Peruvian security
personnel by the U.S. company Triple Canopy for service in
Iraq. The Foreign Ministry views revision of the Convention
on Mercenaries as its baby, as this proposal was first made
by Peruvian international legal expert Enrique Bernales
Ballesteros when serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on
Mercenaries. We believe it possible to nip this Peruvian
initiative in the bud and request guidance from the
Department on how to proceed. END SUMMARY.


3. (U) Amb. Jorge Lazaro, the Foreign Ministry's Under
Secretary for Peruvian Communities in the Exterior, authored

SIPDIS
an op-ed published in the 11/3/05 edition of daily "La
Republica." In his commentary, Amb. Lazaro:

-- referred to the concerns raised by the Peruvian Congress,
media and legal community regarding the contracting of
Peruvian citizens by the local agents of a private U.S.
security company for service in Iraq (Refs);

-- observed that the issue of private companies providing
security services has not/not been "precisely" addressed by
international law;

-- noted that ex-Special Rapporteur Bernales had highlighted
this "vacuum" in international law and had proposed that the
Convention on Mercenaries be used to address it;

-- stated that the Foreign Ministry has commenced the
necessary procedures for Peru to "sign and adhere" to the
Convention on Mercenaries;

-- explained that the Foreign Ministry is preparing a report
to the UN Secretary General that will "analyze in a critical
manner from the point of view of international law, as well
as from the recent Peruvian experience" (Note. The Triple
Canopy contracts. End Note),with the purpose of revising
the definition of mercenaries in the Convention so as to,
"include the activities of security companies."


4. (C) Polcouns met with Amb. Lazaro on 11/8/05 to discuss
the proposals made by the latter in his op-ed, as well as to
ascertain the seriousness of the GOP's position. Polcouns
noted that if Peru was uncomfortable with its citizens
signing on with private companies to provide security
services in other countries, then it could pass legislation
prohibiting or regulating such activities in Peru. Lazaro
discounted this option, explaining that:

-- The Foreign Ministry, although Peru is not yet a party to
the Convention on Mercenaries, has been deeply involved in
dealing with the issue of mercenaries from the beginning;

-- One of Lazaro's own early assigments in the diplomatic
corps was as Peru's representative on the UNGA Third
Committee, when it was considering the Convention;

-- Enrique Bernales was Special Rapporteur on Mercenaries
for some 16 years and has been at the forefront of GOP
efforts to define its policy regarding mercenaries (NOTE:
Bernales is a respected international human rights lawyer and
former Senator, currently serving as Executive Director of
the Andean Commission of Jurists. END NOTE);
-- Consequently, Peru has a sense of ownership and
responsibility for the proposal, made by Bernales in his
12/24/03 report on "The use of mercenaries as a means of
violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right
of peoples to self-determination (E/CN.4/2004/15)," that a
new definition of the term "mercenary" is needed, and that
this new definition should specify when and under what
circumstances the activities of private security companies
would fall under this definition;

-- The Foreign Ministry's position has nothing to do with
Iraq or with the United States, but rather is simply
addressed to a "vacuum" in international law;

-- The Foreign Ministry's decision to act on this issue now
has, of course, been influenced by the political and media
pressure resulting from the news stories reporting on the
contracting of Peruvians for service with Triple Canopy in
Iraq;

-- Foreign Minister Oscar Maurtua has been called to testify
before Congress on this matter, and must have a coherent
position to advance;

-- In addition, the "La Republica" op-ed had the favorable
impact of significantly reducing the political and media
pressure; and

-- Finally, the Foreign Ministry was not/not at all pleased
at being surprised by the news that the Ministry of Defense
authorized the use of a military installation by Triple
Canopy's local agent to train the Peruvians going to Iraq;


5. (C) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: The proposed revision
to the Convention on Mercenaries appears to be yet another
arcane initiative that has burbled along on the Foreign
Ministry's backburner for years, kept alive by Ministry
officials, such as Amb. Lazaro, who had a hand in its
crafting. The uproar over the Triple Canopy contracts
provided an opportunity for them to move this proposal
forward, and an insecure Foreign Minister seems to have
seized on it to carry him through another crisis. Since the
story on Peruvians going to Iraq has disappeared from the
media, replaced by the sensational arrival and arrest of
ex-President Fujimori in Chile, it should be possible to
encourage the Foreign Minister, and failing that the Prime
Minister and/or President, to return this initiative to the
back burner where it belongs. We request guidance from the
Department on any action we should take in this regard. END
COMMENT.
STRUBLE