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