by David Phinney
Tuesday March 19th 2024

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‘Labor trafficking’ Archives

Escape from Iraq: Filipino Migrant Worker Recounts Nightmare Flight

Escape from Iraq: Filipino Migrant Worker Recounts Nightmare Flight

He Didn't Want to Go: Ramil Autencio thought he was traveling to Kuwait for a job in a luxury hotel. The employer, a major Kuwait contractor working for the US government, instead pressured him to work on US military camps in Iraq. The father of two recounts his escape with more than 40 others during interview in Manila. He says he never wanted [...]

Rumors of First Kuwaiti Airplanes for People Moving

From spring 2006: The general manager for the US Embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting has two airplanes the company can't register and is piloted by a German pilot named Wolfgang .... The general manager also has another plane piloted by Brits flying in and out of Kuwait and a fourth that may be registered. Another [...]

New US Embassy in Baghdad Delayed

Widespread construction flaws and substandard work have delayed completion of the US State Department’s mammoth new $592-million embassy in Baghdad despite previous official statements that the ambitious fortified compound would be finished in September, numerous sources familiar with the project have been telling me for several weeks. Those [...]

DOD Failed to Stop Worker Exploitation in Iraq

The Washington Post finds little evidence of human trafficking in the United States despite well-funded programs to combat it. But the lengthy page-one Sonday story above the fold neglects to mention the allegations of trafficking under US-funded contracts in Iraq. Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little [...]

Philippines Investigates Claims of Workers in Iraq

The Philippine government launched a full-throttle investigation this week into claims of labor trafficking and smuggling made against the Kuwait contractor building the $592-million US embassy project in Baghdad. The move comes in despite of repeated statements by Bush administration officials and the contractor that the allegations are [...]

Blood, Sweat and Tears at New U.S. Embassy

Blood, Sweat and Tears at New U.S. Embassy

by David Phinney WASHINGTON, Jun 8, 2007  - The U.S. Justice Department is actively investigating allegations of forced labour and other abuses by the Kuwaiti contractor now rushing to complete the sprawling 592-million-dollar U.S. embassy project in Baghdad, numerous sources have revealed. Justice Department trial attorneys Andrew Kline [...]

Investigating the Embassy Contractor
on Allegations of Labor Trafficking

The news that the US Justice Department is investigating the Kuwaiti contractor now completing the $592-million US embassy in Baghdad because of allegations about labor trafficking was first reported by Iraqslogger. One week later, The Wall Street Journal published the news on page one. The Iraqslogger piece also covers in depth the US State [...]

Accused of Labor Abuse, Gulf Catering Wins More Business

Accused of Labor Abuse, Gulf Catering Wins More Business

By David Phinney May 17, 2007 -- Target for Constant Whining: Although repeatedly accused of labor abuse and possible human trafficking of workers, Gulf Catering won another multimillion-dollar contract to feed US troops. Rest assured: The Pentagon looked into the allegations and found no substance to them. The unfounded badgering and rumors [...]

Migrants Forced to Work in Iraq

The International Herald Tribune discovers that trafficking in Iraq of workers is alive and kicking: Instead of the conventional jobs that were promised, traffickers are hustling them into hardship conditions with little pay and no mobility, according to groups that work with migrants and small numbers of migrants themselves who have managed to [...]

Forced Labor More Wide Spread than Sex Trafficking?

The global trafficking for forced labor may be a bigger problem than the higher profile problem of sex trafficking: So says Kristiina Kangaspunta, the chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ). "We don't know, but it seems that it might be that forced labor is a bigger part of the human trafficking [...]

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