U.S. Must Work to End Human Trafficking, Modern-Day Slavery on Government Contracts
In 2004, Buddhi Prasad Gurung, a young man wishing to provide a better life for his family, left his village in Nepal for Jordan, where local labor recruiters had falsely promised him work in five-star hotels and restaurants. Based on this promise, Gurung borrowed heavily to pay the recruitment fees he had been charged. Upon arrival, the lucrative jobs in the luxury hotels did not materialize. Instead, his passport was seized, and he was transported against his will to Iraq to work for a U.S. government subcontractor called Daoud & Partners. En route to the military base – on a dangerous highway with no security – the convoy in which he was traveling, along with dozens of men in identical predicaments, was attacked by Iraqi insurgents. Twelve of the men in the convoy were later executed, their deaths broadcast on television. Gurung was refused permission to return home for another 15 months by Daoud and the prime contractor, Kellogg, Brown, and Root, Inc. (KBR).
In one of the first cases against a corporation under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), , Gurung and the families of the Nepali victims sued KBR and Daoud in federal court for trafficking and forced labor, and the ACLU this week filed an amicus brief in support of the men.
What happened to these men was a horrific tragedy, but the circumstances leading up to their deaths are sadly not unique. As the ACLU and Yale Law School's Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law clinic documented in Victims of Complacency, a report published in 2012, since 2003 thousands of foreign workers (known as Third Country Nationals or "TCNs") hired to work on U.S. government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere have been subjected to similar abuses, which taken together constitute a scheme of human trafficking for forced labor.
In a filing last year, KBR sought dismissal of the case, arguing that the victims were not actually subjected to trafficking or forced labor and that regardless, it is shielded from liability under the TVPA. As our brief makes clear, KBR's position flies in the face of the text, purpose, and context of the TVPA. KBR's actions unquestionably constitute trafficking under both U.S. and international law, and KBR can – and must – be held liable for these violations. As we argue:
For this Court to accept the arguments advanced by KBR would mean that no entity in KBR's position could ever be legally liable for trafficking or forced labor under the TVPRA. This would be an erroneous reading of the statute, and a significant impediment to congressional efforts to eradicate the scourge of trafficking and forced labor from the government contracting process.
Though the abuses these men suffered have been well known for over a decade, the U.S. government has only recently begun to take measures to eliminate this form of modern-day slavery from the government contracting process. In September 2012, the Obama administration signed an Executive Order setting out new requirements to prevent trafficking and forced labor of anyone serving under government contracts. In January this year, Congress codified many of these protections in the . To certify that these words are translated into action, the ACLU and a number of anti-trafficking organizations this month submitted a written statement to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council recommending the adoption of standards critical to ensuring better oversight in the contracting process. We hope this lawsuit and the new regulations will ensure that the U.S. government contracting process is no longer complicit in modern-day slavery.
Learn more about human trafficking and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .
Learn More About the Issues on This Page
-
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Human Rights
Failed War on Drugs Policies Won't Stop the Overdose Crisis, But Harm Reduction Can Save LivesFailed War on Drugs Policies Won't Stop the Overdose Crisis, But Harm Reduction Can Save Lives
Research shows extensive benefits from syringe exchange and other harm reduction programs. But misguided efforts to ban common sense care continue. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Racial Justice
Human Rights
Why the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights IssueWhy the Fight for Racial Justice is a Human Rights Issue
On International Human Rights Day, the ACLU is advocating for a long-sought after reparatory justice to end the continued abuses against Black and brown communities. -
Press ReleaseOct 2024
Human Rights
Free Speech
Universities Should Protect Students’ Right to Protest, End Crackdown on Peaceful ProtestsUniversities Should Protect Students’ Right to Protest, End Crackdown on Peaceful Protests
WASHINGTON – College and university presidents across the U.S. need to respect and protect the right to protest in support of Palestinian rights the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter. For months the organizations have raised concerns about the potential use of unlawful force when university administrators call in law enforcement officers to break up demonstrations on campus. This new letter comes after reports of heavy-handed and excessive force by some campus police and local law enforcement against peaceful protests and encampments across the country. The groups provide recommendations for colleges and universities to ensure they protect the right to protest on their campuses. The organizations also urge university administrations to refrain from taking any further measures to suppress student protests on campus, including stopping the use of so-called less lethal weapons and ensuring that coercive police power is used only as a last resort, among other recommendations. “Universities are responsible for protecting both physical safety and free expression on campus,” said Jamil Dakwar, director at the ACLU’s Human Rights Program. “It’s deeply concerning to see universities needlessly expose students to police violence for peacefully expressing their political opinions. We’re urging schools once again to exercise restraint, practice de-escalation, and protect free speech and dissent on campus.” Preliminary analysis by Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps has identified at least 174 photos, videos, or social media posts from 20 universities of potential excessive use of force by law enforcement under international law that merits further investigation. This includes 17 universities where chemical irritants such as pepper spray appear to have been used against student protesters, and 11 universities where officers appear to have responded to protests armed with kinetic impact projectiles such as rubber bullets. The results of this use of force by law enforcement agencies have been devastating, including media-verified reports of severe injuries such as bleeding puncture wounds, head injuries, broken teeth, and suspected broken bones, most notably at the University of California Los Angeles, Columbia University, and the City College of New York. The Digital Verification Corps also documented at least 10 other universities where photos or videos capture potential injuries to students. It found that half of the incidents involving injuries under investigation appear to be the result of chemical irritants. “The information we have gathered on excessive use of force against student protesters is extremely worrisome and we are still in the beginning of our investigation,” said Justin Mazzola, researcher with Amnesty International USA. “With the continuation of the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza and the risk of US complicity through the sending of weapons, campus protests in favor of stopping the violence and destruction will continue. Universities have a responsibility to protect academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression, and to peacefully protest, and we will be watching to ensure they do.” The ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch are not alone in their concern. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several UN experts, including the UN special rapporteur on the right to education, have criticized the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators by law enforcement and disciplinary measures against students exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. All higher education institutions, even private colleges and universities, where the First Amendment is not applicable, have a responsibility to respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly under international law. “Instead of resorting to police action that both shuts down free speech and heightens the risk of injuries, universities need to do more to protect student speech from violence and intimidation, and actively ensure that peaceful student expression continues without interference,” said Tanya Greene, director of the US program at Human Rights Watch. As the letter explains, the ACLU, Amnesty International USA, and Human Rights Watch are conducting research and analysis of how campus administrators are responding to student protests. They urge universities to fulfill their human rights responsibilities by facilitating protests and ensuring that all students' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, regardless of viewpoint, is respected. A comprehensive joint report on this issue is slated to be released by the ACLU and Amnesty International USA in the coming months. The open letter is available here: /documents/letter-to-universities-student-protesters -
News & CommentaryOct 2024
Immigrants' Rights
Human Rights
Three Ways the Media Introduces Bias to the Immigration DebateThree Ways the Media Introduces Bias to the Immigration Debate
Ahead of the election, we examined how political ads and news media stories depict the immigration debate as more negative than it may be.