Exclusive
Forced Labor Building Baghdad Embassy?
Slogger Investigation Reveals Unreported Incidents of Abuse
By DAVID PHINNEY 05/31/2007 1:17 PM ET
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Rumors of labor trafficking and abuse have plagued building contractor now completing the $592 million Baghdad embassy building project, but a State Department Inspector General investigation reported finding nothing untoward. Now an IraqSlogger exclusive reveals previously unreported instances of appalling living conditions, abuse, and coerced labor, making clear that the allegations against the contractor managing the embassy project remain unresolved.
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The Americans protested that construction crews lived in crowded quarters; ate sub-standard food; and had little medical care. When drinking water was scarce in the blistering heat, coolers were filled on the banks of the Tigris, a river rife with waterborne disease, sewage and sometimes floating bodies, they said. Others questioned why First Kuwaiti held the passports of workers. Was it to keep them from escaping? Some laborers had turned up “missing” with little investigation. Another American said laborers told him they were been misled in their job location. When recruited, they were unaware they were heading for war-torn Iraq.
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"Most of the allegations (from the Americans) were true before he arrived," claims Juvencio Lopez, who says he was a high-level project manager under the US State Department over the course of 2 years. During a telephone interview last weekend, he said the laborers “had their backs to the wall,” and had been living 20 to a trailer. Protests over First Kuwaiti’s bad food, abusive treatment from managers and unsafe working conditions were routine among many of the 2,700 workers during much of 2005 and 2006.
more at:
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3014/Forced_Labor_Building_Baghdad_Embassy
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