Latest WarSlavery Campaign Update

by Austin on November 17, 2006

This e-update went to all Free the Slaves and WarSlavery supporters in late 2006. It recaps the campaign and announces an anticipated State Department investigation.

Dear Supporter,

Your voice is starting to make a difference for people trafficked into Iraq.

As you know, this past summer Free the Slaves started the WarSlavery campaign to pressure the US government to take action against taxpayer sponsored human trafficking in Iraq. Many of you signed on to demand justice for the survivors, to ensure the traffickers were punished and to prevent this abuse from happening again. This call for action was originally addressed to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and will now be addressed to Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates.

The good news: Thanks in large part to your help, Free the Slaves is pleased to announce that Ambassador John Miller, head of the State Department’s anti-trafficking office, agreed to push for an investigation of all State Department contracts in Iraq. This includes investigating allegations of trafficking and labor abuse by First Kuwaiti – the construction company that is doing big business with the United States.

You will remember that First Kuwaiti is the company that the Chicago Tribune found to be complicit in human trafficking through a sub-contract for US-based company KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. Neither KBR
nor First Kuwaiti has been punished for this, but instead First Kuwaiti has been handsomely rewarded. It currently has the $592 million contract to build the US Embassy in Baghdad. Free the Slaves is concerned that First Kuwaiti may have trafficked people to Iraq for this project and are holding workers there by force. According to recent articles by David Phinney October 17th and October 24th), US State Department representatives in Iraq have actually helped First Kuwaiti hold workers against their will.

These allegations require an immediate, in-depth investigation. Of course, that’s only the first step, but a step that could make the difference between slavery and freedom for people held against their will in one of the most dangerous places on earth.

The ‘might be news’:
The US Defense Department, in part because of pressure from supporters like you, has finally passed official rules that would punish contractors complicit in human trafficking. If their violations persist, they can be blacklisted from future contracts. While this is a step in the right direction, and Free the Slaves will monitor the implementation of the rules, we continue to demand the maximum punishment for guilty companies. Under US law, contractors guilty of human trafficking abroad are eligible for the much stiffer penalties of jail time and asset forfeiture, in addition to losing their US government contracts. To date, the Department of Justice has not tried any contractors for complicity in human trafficking abroad, despite that the government itself has acknowledged the incidence of human trafficking among contractors (See General George Casey’s memo on our
“[resource page).

The ‘no news’: Our government hasn’t answered basic questions. Last July Free the Slaves first publicly raised our concerns to the Defense Department and the State Department about human trafficking in Iraq among US government contractors. At that time we requested basic information about their understanding of the extent of the problem and the efforts the US government has made to address it. Months have passed and we have received no answers. You can read the original requests to US government officials here. Free the Slaves will keep pushing for answers to key questions that we know you are asking and that all US taxpayers deserve to know:

• How many workers employed by US government contractors were being held against their will at the time of the US Defense Department’s investigation?
• How many survivors of trafficking have received compensation and were given the opportunity to go home?
• Which contractors were found to be complicit in human trafficking?
• Did they lose their federal contracts? If not, why not? Case in point: why is First Kuwaiti still building the US Embassy in Baghdad?

Also, with so much evidence alleging that KBR and First Kuwaiti were complicit in human trafficking, why hasn’t the US government brought a case against either company?

To those of you who have already taken a stand against taxpayer supported human trafficking, thank you. You are making a difference! To those of you who have not signed on yet, please visit WarSlavery.org, take a moment to sign up and ask a friend to do the same. We can all agree that slavery and human trafficking are wrong, and none of us want it happening in our name.

Looking forward,

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick

Outreach Coordinator

Free the Slaves