US investigates reports of people trafficked into forced labour in Iraq

John Miller, director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons said yesterday that his office was investigating claims by the Chicago Tribune Newspaper that human trafficking is being used to recruit undocumented labourers to work on US military bases in Iraq. The series of articles entitled “Pipeline to Peril” claimed specifically that twelve Nepali workers had been promised jobs, some in a five star hotel in Amman. Eventually, however, it is alleged that they were kidnapped and taken to Iraq in August 2004 to work as labourers for the US military where they were eventually killed by insurgents during one of the worst massacres of foreign workers to have occurred since the US lead invasion. Some of the men were allegedly sold between traffickers four times before they reached their destination. The men were all ultimately recruited by KBR, a subsidiary of the US firm Halliburton.
While thousands of workers do flow into the Middle East legitimately, Miller said, “There is a dark side to this.” He also said, “If this turns out to be the case in Iraq, something has to be done about it.”
Miller and his department are of the view that no matter how complicated the recruitment process is, a contractor must check that human trafficking is not taking place. “Our view is that the U.S. contractor has to take responsibility,” Miller said.
Despite some resistance from the defence industry, the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is hopeful that the Pentagon will put in place new rules requiring contractors working with the US military to ensure that their subcontractors are not involved in human trafficking. Meanwhile the investigation into the specific case of the 12 Nepali men continues.