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	US must ensure that private contractors do not infringe rights – UN experts by UN News / Eurasia Insight   August 2009   US must ensure that private contractors do not infringe rights – UN experts.   A group of United Nations independent experts on mercenaries today voiced concern over the limited scrutiny of private security contractors by the United States Government, calling on greater transparency to prevent impunity for human rights violations.   “The responsibility of the State to protect human rights does not stop with contracting or subcontracting,” the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, who wrapped up a two-week visit to the US, said in a statement.   The Group underscored that the State has the primary responsibility of ensuring that contractors respect human rights and are prosecuted in the event of violations.   In spite of mechanisms created by US authorities to better monitor private military and security companies (PMSCs), “there is very little information accessible to the public on the scope and type of contracts,” they noted.   The intention by the US to increase the number of contractors to match the troop surge in Afghanistan is also a source of concern since it “may further dilute the distinction between military and civilian personnel, an obligation under international law,” said Shaista Shameem, the Group’s Chairperson-Rapporteur.   There is also a trend towards “an extensive privatization of the war,” she said, but added that the US Government has assured the UN experts that it does not relinquish its State authority of the legitimate use of force.   The Group is also concerned over the US Administration’s recent objection to a prohibition in next year’s defence funding bill of the use of contractors in interrogating people detained during or after hostilities.   “In light of the alleged involvement of PMSGs in the ill-treatment of detainees in US custody, the Working Group calls on the US Government to reconsider its initial position,” today’s press release said.   The experts also appealed for greater public access to information on the scope, type and value of contracts which “are not subject to scrutiny from the US Congress and Government, due to classified information,” stressing that the Department of Justice must take action to ensure that contractors’ violations of rights are punished.   To date, 17 cases involving contractors are under investigation and at least seven convictions have resulted. Further, the Group underscored the need for a global oversight and monitoring body, with the US playing a major role in setting up a potential international pact to regulate the use of private contractors for security functions.   July 2009   Private Security Contractors becoming a source of Public Concern, by Aunohita Mojumdar. (Eurasia Insight)   A recent shootout in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar that left 10 people dead is helping to focus attention on the issue of private security companies, and the existing lack of accountability concerning their activities.   The June 29 incident in Kandahar involved security contractors employed by coalition military forces. A group of the contractors attacked a local police station apparently in an attempt to free a colleague who had been taken into custody for supposedly forging documents. In addition to two senior police officers, eight civilians died in the armed confrontation. Hours after the shootout, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement asking the US-led coalition forces to hand over the private security contractors suspected of involvement in the killings. Later, 41 Afghan security contractors were placed under arrest.   Representatives of coalition forces emphasized that no foreign troops and no "foreign nationals" were involved in the incident.   Nevertheless, the attack is prompting heightened scrutiny of the coalition practice of employing de-mobilized local militiamen to provide security. Up to 3,000 former Afghan militia fighters are directly employed by the US military in Operation Enduring Freedom, according to an estimate prepared by Swisspeace, a research outfit focusing on conflict resolution.   In the absence of adequate troop levels and well-trained Afghan forces, international militaries and civilian agencies have used private security firms to protect their personnel and assets since 2001. Given the growing international presence and spiraling insecurity in recent years, the security sector has proven to be highly lucrative. Accordingly, the number of private security companies mushroomed.   Early this year, 39 companies - 21 of them foreign-based - were licensed under regulations issued in 2008. However, loopholes in criminal jurisdiction and accountability allow many security firms to operate in a gray area, seemingly beyond the reach of the Afghan justice system. Some companies, which did not, or could not obtain licenses, reportedly continue to operate with impunity. In some instances, private security contractors employed by foreign militaries or diplomatic missions enjoy immunity.   There are several instances in which security contractors have avoided facing Afghan justice in connection with deadly incidents.   Earlier, on an April visit to Afghanistan to gauge the impact of the private security companies on the Afghan population, the UN’s working group on the use of mercenaries, suggested contractors involved in such shootings should leave the country to placate critics. Group leader Alexander Nikitin said that “when foreign nationals working in these companies are involved in some problems with the local population” it was important that “the companies recognized that the Afghan authorities have the right to expel individuals from the country, individuals working for the companies, if these foreigners were involved in any violations on Afghan territory.”   While not addressing the question of further criminal prosecution, Nikitin added that, “this should become a normal practice if the system of monitoring is to work more and more intensively over time.”   The expulsion or escape, as it may be seen locally, of these personnel however rankles an Afghan population with no means of pursuing justice. Anger among Afghans against private security firms has steadily escalated over the past few years, due to what is seen as unwarranted aggression and thuggish behavior.   While incidents involving the use of lethal force usually manage to make their way into the public discourse, the routine harassment and bullying behavior of security contractors, involving contact with Afghan civilians, usually goes undocumented and unreported.   While no representative of a private security company would publicly comment, some said privately that they would welcome tighter regulations. Several representatives complained that in the absence of such regulations, their firms end up being tarred with the same brush as the more brutish firms.   The absence of a comprehensive legislative framework is widely seen as one impediment to reform. A bill containing a new set of regulations for private contractors is currently stuck in parliament.   With the increase in violence and the winding down of operations in Iraq, Afghans fear a surge of foreign security contractors will arrive in Afghanistan looking for work.   * The Universal Rights Network once again calls for enforceable international laws to be applied and enforced in regard to private security firms where-ever they operate in the world. These companies are most often being funded by taxpayers money and they must all be subject to the rule of law. Visit the related web page
	"War on terror" used to target minorities - report by Natasha Elkington Reuters   July 2009   Countries on the front line in the "war on terror" are using the battle against extremists as a smokescreen to crack down on minority groups, according to an international human rights group.   For the fourth straight year, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan topped an annual index compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) of countries where minorities are most at risk of genocide, mass killings or violent repression.   "You see governments who have faced a genuine threat, but the point is the actions they have taken against the wider civilian population, including minority civilians, has been justified as part of the "war on terror," MRG director Mark Lattimer told Reuters. "It has included disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions."   A two-year insurgency in Somalia led by al Shabaab militants, who have links to al Qaeda and include foreign Islamists among their ranks, has killed some 18,000 civilians.   The insurgency has put historically oppressed minority groups such as the Bantu, Gabooye and Yibir at particular risk, the chairman of Somali Minority Rights and Aid Forum, Mohamed Hassan Daryeel, said.   "If the Yibir go with the government, they will be attacked by the radical Islamists. At the same time, if they go with the Islamists, they will be considered terrorists, and if they are neutral they"ll be targeted by all sides."   Daryeel said recent amputations carried out by al Shabaab fighters were performed on child soldiers forcibly recruited from minority groups. "They are at the bottom of society, the most disadvantaged," he said.   Despite a decline in violence in Iraq, the report said civilian deaths from violence were still estimated at 300-800 a month over the past year.   It said minorities continued to bear the brunt of the violence, especially in the Nineveh area, home to the Shabak people.   "The Shabak community has suffered a lot at the hands of the terrorist groups and at the hands of the Kurdish secret police," head of Iraq"s Minorities Council, Hunain Al-Qaddo, told Reuters.   He said around 10,000 Shabak families had fled parts of Mosul to their homeland in the Nineveh plains for fear of being killed because of their ethnicity.   The rest of the top 10 list was comprised of Myanmar in fifth place, followed by Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Israel/Palestinian territories.   Pakistan rose on the list due to an escalating conflict against different Islamist groups, combined with growing violence in national politics and suppression of dissidents.   Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen were assessed as under greater danger than a year ago with their governments involvement in regional conflicts compounding the risk of repression at home. African states make up half the report"s top 20 list.
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