UN WORKING GROUP ON MERCENARIES GRAVELY CONCERNED BY ALLEGATIONS THAT MERCENARIES WERE INVOLVED IN PLOT AGAINST BOLIVIAN AUTHORITIES

29 April 2009

GENEVA – The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries said Wednesday it is deeply concerned by reports that a group of five persons, including foreigners, were involved in a plot against the Bolivian government.

According to the information available to date, on 16 April the Bolivian police launched an operation in the eastern city of Santa Cruz against a group that were allegedly planning assassination attempts against the democratically elected President and other senior officials of the Government of Bolivia. During an exchange of fire with the police, three individuals were killed, while two others have been detained.

Without expressing at this stage any opinion on the facts of the case, the Working Group recalls all relevant resolutions affirming that the use of mercenaries and their recruitment, financing and training with the objective of overthrowing the governments of United Nations member states are offences of grave concern to all States. The Working Group also recalls the principle of self-determination by which all people have the right to determine freely their political status and to pursue freely their economic, social and cultural development as well as the right of the people of a certain nation to decide how they want to be governed without the influence of any other entity.

The Working Group calls on the government of Bolivia as well on the countries whose nationals were allegedly involved in the plot to fully investigate this incident and to ensure accountability for any crimes committed.

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 was established in 2005 by the Commission on Human Rights.
The Working Group is composed of five independent experts serving in their personal capacities, and headed by its Chairperson-Rapporteur, Ms. Shaista Shameem (Fiji). The other Working Group experts are: Ms. Najat al-Hajjaji (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Ms. Amada Benavides de Pérez (Colombia), Mr. José Luis Gómez del Prado (Spain), and Mr. Alexander Nikitin (Russian Federation).

For more information on the Working Group, please contact Ms Julie Tétard on +41 22 917 9603, or consult the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/mercenaries/index.htm

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For use of the information media; not an official record