Victims of Complacency: The Ongoing Trafficking and Abuse of Third Country Nationals by U.S. Government Contractors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org WASHINGTON – President Obama today signed an executive order that would give better protections to vulnerable workers at U.S. military and diplomatic missions who are employed by government contractors. The order, announced in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, lays out new requirements for U.S. government contractors and their subcontractors operating overseas to prevent human trafficking and forced labor. It prohibits contractors and subcontractors from charging recruitment fees and requires prime contractors to take responsibility for ensuring that their subcontractors are not engaging in trafficking or forced labor. It also mandates the creation of new guidance and training for contract officers responsible for enforcing the new anti-trafficking provisions. “This executive order is a huge step forward in the fight against human trafficking,” said Devon Chaffee, ACLU legislative counsel. “This modern-day slavery has no place in our society and certainly no place in contracts funded by U.S. government.” For many years, U.S. government contractors providing services to the military have engaged in the trafficking and forced labor of reportedly thousands of men and women from low-wage countries such as Nepal, India and the Philippines. Recruited from impoverished villages, they are charged exorbitant recruitment fees, often lied to about what country they will be taken to and how much they will be paid. Many are left with no choice but to live and work in unacceptable and unsafe conditions serving as security personnel, cooks, janitors, cleaners and construction workers on U.S. military bases and embassies in Afghanistan and Iraq. ”Today’s executive order will help ensure that workers who provide valuable services to our troops and embassies are not trafficked or forced into indentured servitude on the taxpayer’s dime,” said Steven Watt, ACLU senior staff attorney. “The order brings the U.S. government a step closer to realizing its often touted zero-tolerance policy on human trafficking.” Last month, the ACLU released a joint report with Yale Law School, Victims of Complacency, which documents the ongoing trafficking, forced labor and abuse of these workers. The report made a number of recommendations, some of which are effectively implemented by the executive order signed today. There is also legislation pending in Congress, the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act, aimed at ending trafficking and forced labor under U.S. government contracts.

Inadequate Monitoring and Enforcement Allows Abuses by Government Contractors to Continue FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 21, 2011 CONTACT:Josh Bell, ACLU national, (212) 549-2508 or 2666; media@aclu.org NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today 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 case, brought on behalf of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), seeks documents from the Departments of State and Defense that detail audits and complaints about military contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military contractors recruit tens of thousands of foreign workers, mainly from poor countries, to provide U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with essential logistical support such as cooking, cleaning and construction services. Over the past few years, media reports have detailed abuses of these workers by contractors including deceptive hiring practices, excessive recruitment fees and provision of substandard living conditions. "While the U.S. government’s condemnation of human trafficking is commendable, it would appear that in Iraq and Afghanistan, little is being done to effectively stem the flow of trafficking of foreign workers by contractors onto U.S. military bases in those two countries," said Steven Watt, staff attorney with the ACLU Human Rights Program. "Clearly, the rules and oversight mechanisms currently in place are doing little to deter and prevent trafficking and other labor abuses." In 2006, mounting evidence of trafficking and other abuses of foreign workers by U.S. military contractors prompted the issuance of new regulations by General George Casey, then commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. The new rules for contractors mandated basic standards of living, prohibited the use of unlicensed recruiting firms and required that workers retain their passports. Since then, however, it has been difficult to determine what impact if any these new rules have had on trafficking and other labor abuses. Recent media reports suggest that they have had little effect. Cases of trafficking and abuse of foreign workers in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to be published and reveal that the rules are neither being followed by contractors nor enforced by the government. "Transparency about how the military and its contractors deal with the trafficking and abuse of foreign workers is necessary if we are ever going to stop such abuses on U.S. military bases overseas," said Becca Heller, director of IRAP. "There is an urgent need for more effective oversight of the treatment of migrant and stateless laborers on military bases and better enforcement of the rules against trafficking and labor abuses." The persistence of the problem of trafficking of foreign workers by military contractors has recently been recognized by Congress. On July 7, 2011, the House passed an amendment to the Defense Department appropriations bill prohibiting department funds from being used for human trafficking. Alex Abdo, ACLU staff attorney, is also counsel on the case. The complaint can be found at: www.aclu.org/human-rights/military-contractor-human-trafficking-complaint The FOIA request can be found at: www.aclu.org/human-rights/military-contractor-human-trafficking-foia-req...