State Dept Reports on Forced Labor in Iraq

[babylonsister]

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3169/State_Dept_Reports_on_Forced_Labor_in_Iraq

State Dept Reports on Forced Labor in Iraq
Advises Iraqi Gov to Do More on Trafficking for Involuntary Servitude
By CHRISTINA DAVIDSON Posted 2 hr. 33 min. ago



In its 2007 Human Trafficking Report released Tuesday, the US State Department criticizes the Iraqi government for not doing enough to combat the influx of low-wage workers being brought in from South and Southeast Asia under conditions of involuntary servitude, but fails to acknowledge the role the US government plays in creating the jobs that are being filled by this forced labor.

Instead of being ranked with most countries, Iraq appears under a "Special Cases" heading, because it was in political transition during the reporting period. The description of the problem of involuntary servitude is lifted directly from the 2006 report, which was the first year that the State Department identified non-sexual labor trafficking in Iraq since the invasion.

Iraq is also a destination country for men and women trafficked from South and Southeast Asia for involuntary servitude as construction workers, cleaners, and domestic servants. Some of these workers are offered fraudulent jobs in safe environments in Kuwait or Jordan, but are then forced into involuntary servitude in Iraq instead; others go to Iraq voluntarily, but are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude after arrival. Although the governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines have official bans prohibiting their nationals from working in Iraq, workers from these countries are increasingly coerced into positions in Iraq with threats of abandonment in Kuwait or Jordan, starvation, or force....

But the 2007 edition went to greater lengths in criticizing the inaction of the Iraqi government in combating human trafficking within its borders.

The government did not prosecute any trafficking cases this year; nor did it convict any trafficking offenders. Furthermore, the government could not offer protection services to victims of trafficking, and it reported no efforts to prevent trafficking. Iraq should significantly increase criminal investigations of internal and transnational trafficking for both commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.

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[Double T]

1. Forced labor coming to a USA internment camp near YOU soon.

The new world order continues.