Enrique Bernales Ballesteros

Enrique Martín Bernales Ballesteros (6 November 1940 – 24 November 2018) was a Peruvian scholar and politician. He was a member of the Peruvian Senate and the first UN Special Rapporteur on mercenaries.

Bernales Ballesteros served as Principal Professor of Social Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). He also served as the general secretary of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR).

Childhood and academic career Bernales Ballesteros was the son of Luis E. Bernales (director of Colegio Guadalupe) and Laura Ballesteros. During his three years as a student in Europe, he was molded in socialist thought. At the time, he was called the 'Gentleman of the Peruvian Left'. He led the left-wing faction in parliament.

Special Rapporteur Between 1987 and 2004 he served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of the use of mercenaries. He was the first person to hold this post. In 2004 he was replaced by Shaista Shameem, who adopted a more conciliatory approach to the private security industry that Bernales Ballesteros. The post was abolished the following year. he was the chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.