Background on the Blackwater action

As the United States continues to wage the "war on terror," it has increasingly outsourced key security and military functions, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, to private companies. U.S. government and military contractors perform a broad array of functions, from logistical support to security for U.S. government officials to interrogating and translating interrogations of detained persons. But, despite the growing use of contractors, the systems for awarding contracts and managing civilians working for those firms remain decentralized and unclear.

In this environment, serious allegations of contractor involvement in human rights violations—including the torture at Abu Ghraib and hundreds of shootings, sometimes lethal, of Iraqi civilians—have emerged, yet Bush administration officials have made virtually no effort to hold contractors accountable or to compensate victims.

Amnesty International has called on the U.S. government to investigate and to prosecute contractors where clear evidence of their involvement in human rights violations exists. To date, the U.S. Justice Department has made little progress toward meeting these demands.

The September 16, 2007 lethal shootings of Iraqi civilians by Blackwater employees once again emphasize the need for accountability of contractors operating in conflict zones, and Congress has begun to respond to this need.  Representative David Price's (D-NC) MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007:

·        Clarifies U.S. jurisdiction to prosecute contractors of all U.S. agencies operating near a conflict area (not just contractors supporting the work of the Department of Defense)

·        Establishes an FBI unit to investigate incidents of the use of force by contractors, and requires the Department of Justice to report on how it is handling cases of contractor crime.

The House resoundingly passed the bill on October 4, 2007, with a 389-30 vote.

Senator Barack Obama then introduced companion legislation in the Senate:  the Security Contractor Accountability Act of 2007 (S. 2147).  S.2147 is currently being discussed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  If passed in the Senate, this proposed legislation would largely answer Amnesty International’s call to action for contractor accountability.

Click here for more information on the Amnesty International USA Business and Human Rights Program