Security Firms Agree Not to Use Forced Labor

Private security companies sign code of conduct
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 9, 2010, 4:48AM ET
GENEVA

Major private security companies have signed a code of conduct pledging to respect human rights and the rule of law in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

DynCorp International, G4S and Xe Services are among the firms signing the code Tuesday in the Swiss city of Geneva. North Carolina-based Xe Services was formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

The code developed by industry and government representatives requires companies to ensure their employees "take all necessary steps to avoid the use of force."

It also forbids mistreatment of detainees, sexual exploitation and forced labor.

Signatories, non-governmental groups and governments who employ them still have to agree how companies' compliance will be monitored and by whom.

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Several major security firms gathered in Geneva to sign an agreement stating they would not allow their employees to use forced labor or engage in sexual exploitation. Several of these organizations have been in the news for an array of allegations about rights abuse violations including human trafficking. It does not provide much comfort that at this point no arrangement was determined on how this agreement will be monitored and enforced. These security forces provide vital services in Iraq and Afghanistan but are largely viewed as being above the law both in the communities they work in and by the American people. Despite their negative public image, this is a step in the right direction and the agreement has the potential to hold security firms accountable, but only if enforced.

FG urges reform of prostitution laws

*Picture from previous Irish Times article on prostituton.

Failure to amend the prostitution laws could lead to Ireland becoming the new “red light district of Europe”, a Fine Gael TD has claimed. Party immigration spokesman Denis Naughten yesterday said that Ireland has not reformed its laws on soliciting and prostitution, unlike many other EU states.

Mr Naughten said the Dutch authorities had recently decided to close a third of Amsterdam’s notorious red light district because its liberal policy on prostitution had failed to prevent organised crime and human trafficking. Similarly, he said, both Norway and Sweden had outlawed the buying of services from a prostitute.

He said that in Britain new legislation will have the effect of clamping down on those who buy sex from women who have been victims of sex trafficking. Mr Naughten claimed tougher laws elsewhere could lead to illegal traffickers targeting Ireland. He called for the establishment of a group to review and examine prostitution laws with a view to preventing the proliferation of sex trafficking in a growing industry.

Full Article

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As an abolitionist, I fully agree with Mr. Naughten's argument in regard to Irish prostitution law. If anything, a lax regulation or liberal policy of prostitution in Ireland will only facilitate the members of organized crime to take advantage of the systems. Irish Times earlier this year also reported the gravity of sex trafficking in Ireland. While some British showed full support for legalizing of the country's sex industry, a study in the past has proven otherwise. In Netherlands, for instance, the sex industry grew by 25% and accounted for 5% of the Netherlands' national economy. Also, 80% of women in the country's brothels are trafficked from other countries, with 70% from Central and Eastern European countries. But, the world will watch and see if the liberal regulation of the Irish sex industry will in fact countermeasure the problems of human trafficking in Northern Ireland.