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At least Congress agrees on something – stop aiding and abetting government contractors’ that profit from slavery

By Ms Sparky | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations
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These people thought they had a job that provided a good wage, food and housing. They found out they had none of that.

Portman, Blumenthal Secure Inclusion of Anti- Legislation in Defense Bill

Office of (R-Ohio) – Washington, D.C.- Novemeber 30, 2012 – Yesterday, Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) secured inclusion of the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (S.2234) in the of 2013 (S.3254).  Earlier this month, Portman and Blumenthal launched the Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking.  The caucus will bring Senators together to combat human trafficking by promoting awareness, removing demand, supporting prosecution efforts, and providing appropriate service systems for survivors.

Despite the U.S. government’s zero tolerance human trafficking policy, investigations have found that human trafficking by government contractors and subcontractors who operate overseas is still an issue. For example, in 2011, the – an independent, bipartisan legislative commission established to study wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan – concluded that “[e]xisting prohibitions on such trafficking have failed to suppress it.” The commission also concluded that “evidence of the recurrent problem of by labor brokers or subcontractors of contingency contractors.”

More than 70,000 third-country nationals work for contractors and subcontractors of the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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What the U.S. Government Knew About Najlaa

By Ms Sparky | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, LOGCAP III - KBR, Reports & Investigations, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations
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David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – July 11, 2012 – A bit over a year ago a report I co-wrote, documenting and abuse of workers by International Catering Services, a subcontractor, was published by the Project on Government Oversight.

The internal company documents I uncovered revealed, among other things, that U.S. authorities were aware of the deplorable living conditions Najlaa workers endured back in 2008. To their credit both the U.S. government and KBR both worked to pressure Najlaa to fix things once they were alerted to the problem.

But, thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union, newly released documents reveal that the U.S. government and KBR were even more aware of the problem than previously known.

In July 2011 the ACLU filed a lawsuit demanding that the government release documents relating to the trafficking and the abusive treatment of foreign workers on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case sought documents from the Departments of State and Defense that detail audits and complaints about military contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Committee acts to stop contractors from enabling human trafficking

By Ms Sparky | Filed in Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, Politics, Reports & Investigations, Senate & House Committee Hearings, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations
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Joe Davidson – (Washington Post) – June 27, 2012 – A Senate committee wants to make sure Uncle Sam doesn’t act as an inadvertent enabler for international human traffickers and pimps.

With a voice vote Wednesday, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee preliminarily approved legislation designed, as its title says, to “End Trafficking in Government Contracting.”

When contractors submit proposals for government work overseas, they don’t include provisions for trading in humans or indentured servitude. But that apparently has been the case with some private firms operating on U.S. military bases in foreign countries.

“Modern-day slavery by government contractors — unknowingly funded by American taxpayers — is unconscionable and intolerable,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), prime sponsor of the bill. “Current law prohibiting human trafficking is insufficient and ineffective, failing to prevent or punish abuses.”

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Maybe This is Why the PMSC Industry is Supposedly Cost-Effective

By Forseti | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, Security Contractors, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations
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David Isenberg – (Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire) – May 15, 2012 – Continuing on with the topic of worker exploitation let’s turn to a recently published, and unfortunately overlooked, article “Cheap help from Uganda” published in Le Monde diplomatique in France.. The article’s subtitle “Slaves To The Private Military In Iraq” pretty much tells you what the article is about.

The article recounts how private security firms won lucrative contracts to supply support staff and security guards to back up US forces in Iraq. The firms recruited Ugandans and pushed them to the limit, on low pay and no benefits.

Of course, this is hardly the first time this has happened. I noted in my book that in in September 2007, a Nevada-based private security ?rm called started recruiting in Namibia. People there needed jobs, but when news spread about the risks they’d face in Iraq, there was public outcry, and in October Namibia kicked the company’s offcials out of the country.

Still, that episode is useful to recall because SOC-SMG is also mentioned in the Le Monde article.

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America’s Shame: The U.S. Government’s Human Trafficking Dilemma

By Ms Sparky | Filed in Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), GOV. CONTRACTORS, Iraq Human Trafficking, KBR, KBR Contract, Politics, Reports & Investigations, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations
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– () – May 7, 2012 – For , the offer was the answer to a prayer: A job in a luxury hotel in Dubai–the so-called Las Vegas of the Persian Gulf–making five times what she was earning as a hair stylist in her native Fiji.

She jumped at the chance, even if it meant paying an upfront commission to the recruiter.

You probably know how this story is going to end. There was no high-paying job, luxury location or easy work.

Tuivaga and other Fijians ended up in Iraq where they lived in shipping containers and existed in what amounted to indentured servitude.

Journalist told Tuivaga’s story and that of tens of thousands of other foreign workers in acute detail almost a year ago in her New Yorker piece, “The Invisible Army.”

In some cases, Stillman found more severe abuses and more squalid living conditions than what Tuivaga and her fellow Fijians experienced.

But like Tuivaga, thousands of foreign nationals in the U.S. government’s invisible army ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan war zones because they fell victim to human traffickers.

Let that sink in.

This pipeline wasn’t benefitting some shadowy war lord or oppressive regime. No, these are workers who were feeding, cleaning up after, and providing logistical support for U.S. troops—the standard-bearers of the free and democratic world. Read the remainder of this entry »

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