Human Trafficking—Iraq Contractors

In the middle of January, we noted that the Chicago Tribune had spurred the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to investigate allegations of human trafficking among contractors working in Iraq.^[1] Three months after that announcement, and six months after the Tribune ran “Pipeline to Peril,” the “top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations after confirming violations of human-trafficking laws and other abuses by contractors involving possibly thousands of foreign workers on American bases.”^[2]

The orders address a number of concerns:

• Passports must be returned by May 1. According to memos from General George Casey’s office, “human brokers” and subcontractors from South Asia and the Middle East imported thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished countries, and the practice often involved the confiscation of the workers’ passports. These laborers often worked on US bases.
• Brokers and subcontractors must stop committing other abuses. The memos also detailed that the brokers and subcontractors engaged in deceptive hiring practices, charged excessive fees to lure workers into Iraq, provided substandard living conditions, violated Iraqi immigration law, and failed to provide human trafficking “awareness training” on US bases.
• Failure to comply will result in harsh action. If the brokers and subcontractors do not meet the May 1 deadline, the contracts could be terminated, the contractors could be blacklisted from future work, and the firms could be physically barred from US bases.
• Future contracts must comply with standards. All future contracts must require all firms to “provide workers with a signed copy of their employment contract that defines the terms of their employment,” as well as detailing “measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions (e.g., sanitation, health, safety, etc.) and establish 50 feet as the minimum acceptable square footage of personal living space per worker.”
• Compliance with international law is mandatory. International laws regarding human transit, border crossing procedures, work visa requirements, and Iraqi immigration laws must be complied with.^[3]

It is precisely the types of alleged abuses that prompted the implementation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act^[4] which states that whoever engages in conduct outside the United States that would constitute a human trafficking offense if it had been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, will be punished as provided for that offense. It specifically applies to those who are “employed by or accompanying the Federal Government outside the United States.” The TVPRA would not apply to the alleged abuses that occurred before it was added to the US Code on January 10, but in most respects, the human trafficking laws are broad enough to apply to the alleged activities anyway. For example, under 18 U.S.C. § 1592, it is a crime to knowingly destroy, conceal, remove, or confiscate a person’s passport in a labor situation. This statute has no jurisdictional statement, so it will be presumed to have no extraterritorial effect, unless Congress evinces an intention otherwise.^[5] Since section 1592 was passed as part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, however, it could be said to have extraterritorial effect because one of the driving forces behind implementation of the TVPA was international agreement that human trafficking should be criminalized, and should be treated much like slavery.^[6]

At this time, however, there is no indication that any of the subcontractors are being considered for criminal prosecution. That may change however.

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[1] See, e.g., Cam Simpson, U.S. to Probe Claims of Human Trafficking, Chicago Tribune, Jan. 19, 2006.
[2] Cam Simpson, Iraq War Contractors Ordered to End Abuses, Chicago Tribune, Apr. 23, 2006.
[3] Id.
[4] 18 U.S.C. § 3271.
[5] See, e.g., United States v. Clark, 315 F. Supp. 2d 1127, 1131 (W.D. Wash. 2004).
[6] See 22 U.S.C. § 7101(b)(23). Furthermore, slavery is a crime for which universal jurisdiction can be had. See Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 404 (1987).