US embassy cable - 05LIMA4821

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