SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE USE OF MERCENARIES IN EL SALVADOR AND PANAMA

8 May 2002



The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the question of the use of mercenaries, Mr. Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, is visiting El Salvador and Panama on an official mission and at the invitation of the Governments of both countries.
During his visit to El Salvador, set to last from 5 to 8 May 2002, the Special Rapporteur will meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms. María Eugenia Brizuela de Avila; the Minister of National Defence, General Juan Antonio Martínez Varela; and with the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the General Attorney of the Republic, the Human Rights Ombudsman and other authorities. He also will meet with non-governmental representatives and with private individuals.
From San Salvador, the Special Rapporteur will travel to Panama City for three days until 11 May. He will meet with authorities of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Attorney-General Office and the National Police.
The Special Rapporteur will be briefed on the measures both El Salvador and Panama are taking to combat mercenary activities. He also intends to discuss with Government officials, academic and experts what he has called in his reports "the gaps, conflicting requirements and deficiencies of wording of the international legislation regarding mercenaries", as well as the problem of the legal definition of a mercenary and the relation between mercenary activities and terrorism.
Mr. Bernales Ballesteros, a political scientist, lawyer and former Peruvian Senator, has previously visited Angola, Croatia, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Maldives, Serbia and Montenegro, South Africa, the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
For further information on the Special Rapporteur's mandate, please consult Fact Sheet No. 28 on the Impact of Mercenary Activities on the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination, recently published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.


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