Source:
NYT/ReutersBy REUTERS
Published: October 11, 2007
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations wants probes to determine whether private security contractors in Iraq have committed war crimes and for governments to ensure that the rule of law is applied, U.N. officials said on Thursday.
The killing of 17 Iraqis in a shooting involving U.S. security firm Blackwater last month has created tensions between Baghdad and Washington and sparked calls for tighter controls on private contractors, who are immune from prosecution in Iraq.
Ivana Vuco, the U.N.'s senior human rights officer in Iraq, told a news conference that private security contractors were still subject to international humanitarian law and that meant there were specific consequences for any breach.
"Investigations as to whether or not crimes against humanity, war crimes, are being committed and obviously the consequences of that is something that we will be paying attention to and advocating for," she told a news conference.
Iraq says there are more than 180 mainly U.S. and European security companies in the country, with estimates of the number of private contractors ranging from 25,000 to 48,000....
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq.html