November, 09 2010, 02:50pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Brenda Bowser Soder,bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org,O -202/370-3323, C - 301/906-4460
58 Firms Sign Historic International Code of Conduct for Private Security Services Providers
Code's Success Depends on Credible Implementation and Accountability
GENEVA
Fifty-eight private security companies today signed an historic
International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers, an
agreement to uphold human rights respecting principles and to establish
an inclusive oversight mechanism to verify that these principles are
implemented. Human Rights First has participated in the Code drafting
process for more than a year and said today's signing has the potential
to improve the industry's human rights impacts.
"This Code is a strong document and an important step in building an
effective scheme for improving this industry's human rights
performance," said Human Rights First's Devon Chaffee, who spoke at
today's signing ceremony in Geneva. "But its true value will depend
on how it's enforced. Companies signing the Code have committed to
establishing a mechanism for robust oversight and
governance. The Code's credibility will rest upon the ability of that
mechanism to hold signatory companies to account."
Today's ceremony was attended by companies' CEOs from around the
world including Ignacio Balderas of Triple Canopy, Gen G J Binns of
Aegis Defence Services Ltd., and Matthew R. Kaye of EOD Technology,
Inc. Also in attendance were high level officials from the various
governments that have been instrumental in the Code process, including
Swiss Secretary of State Peter Maurer, U.K. Ambassador John Duncan and
U.S. Legal Adviser to the Secretary of State Harold Koh. Ten American
companies are among the documents initial signers, including industry
leaders such as DynCorp, Triple Canopy, and Xe Services (formerly
Blackwater).
Among its provisions, the International Code of Conduct for Private
Security Providers lays out concrete requirements governing rules for
the use of force, vetting and training personnel, and incident
reporting. It also outlines a clear industry commitment to future
verification, field auditing, a complaint process, and to a time-tabled
roadmap to establish an inclusive governance and oversight mechanism.
We look forward to working with the participating governments and
companies to ensure that the oversight mechanism is effective in
identifying and addressing negative human rights impacts in the field.
Human Rights First has released a number of reports documenting
serious private security contractor abuses including excessive use of
force and cruel treatment of detainees. These are documented in State of Affairs: Three Years After Nisoor Square
which outlines a number of steps the U.S. government should take to
increase contractor accountability abroad. Its work to assist in
crafting the International Code of Conduct for Private Security
Providers reflects the organization's ongoing commitment to ensuring
that private companies uphold human rights. Along those lines, Human
Rights First has played a leading role in similar multi-stakeholder
efforts to raise the human rights performances of various industries
including in apparel and footwear manufacturing, the Internet and
communications sector, and security in the extractive sector.
Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
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As Senate Democrats prepared to move forward with a procedural vote on the annual defense budget package that passed in the House earlier this week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus outlined its objections to the legislation and called for the Pentagon budget to be cut, with military funding freed up to "reinvest in critical human needs."
CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said following the passage of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 (H.R. 5009) that "it should alarm every American taxpayer that we are nearing a trillion-dollar annual budget for an agency rampant with waste, fraud, and abuse."
Jayapal, who was one of 140 lawmakers to oppose the package, emphasized that the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits.
Despite being the only federal agency to never have passed a federal audit, said Jayapal, the Department of Defense "continues to receive huge boosts to funding every year. Our constituents deserve better."
As Common Dreams reported last month, more than half of the department's annual budget now goes to military contractors that consistently overcharge the government, contributing to the Pentagon's inability to fully account for trillions of taxpayer dollars.
The $883.7 billion legislation that was advanced by the House on Wednesday would pour more money into the Pentagon's coffers. The package includes more than $500 million in Israeli military aid and two $357 million nuclear-powered attack submarine despite the Pentagon requesting only one, and would cut more than $621 million from President Joe Biden's budget request for climate action initiatives.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that the legislation "has some very good things we Democrats wanted in it, it has some bad things we wouldn't have put in there, and some things that were left out," and indicated that he had filed cloture for the first procedural vote on the NDAA.
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"There is no reason today to rely on speedy decision-making during situations in which the United States might launch first. Even as relations with Moscow are at historic lows, we are worlds removed from the Cold War's dominant knife's-edge logic," he wrote.
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Amnesty International on Thursday called for a war crimes investigation into recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed dozens of civilians, as well as a suspension of arms transfers to Israel as it attacks Gaza, the West Bank, and Syria.
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"Amnesty International found that Israeli forces unlawfully struck residential buildings in the village of al-Ain in northern Bekaa on September 29, the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon on October 14, and in Baalbeck city on October 21," the rights group said. "Israeli forces also unlawfully attacked the municipal headquarters in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on October 16."
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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On October 16, Israel bombed the Nabatieh municipal complex, killing Mayor Ahmad Khalil and 10 other people.
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Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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Guevara Rosas said: "These attacks must be investigated as war crimes. The Lebanese government must urgently call for a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into the alleged violations and crimes committed by all parties in this conflict. It must also grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on Lebanese territory."
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