On
March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for private
military and security companies to showcase their services to governments
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the earthquake
devastated country.
On their website for the Haiti conference,
the trade group IPOA (ironically called the International Peace Operations
Association until recently) lists eleven companies advertising security
services explicitly for Haiti. Even though guns are illegal to buy
or sell in Haiti, many companies brag of their heavy duty military experience.
Triple Canopy, a private military company
with extensive security operations in Iraq and Israel, is advertising
for business in Haiti. According to human rights activist and investigative
reporter Jeremy Scahill, Triple Canopy took over the Xe/Blackwater security
contract in Iraq in 2009. Scahill reports on a number of bloody
incidents involving Triple Canopy including one where a team leader told
his group, �I want to kill somebody today�because I am going on vacation
tomorrow.�
Another company seeking work is EODT Technology
which promises in its ad that its personnel are licensed to carry weapons
in Haiti. EODT has worked in Afghanistan since 2004 and provides
security for the Canadian Embassy in South Africa. On their website
they promise a wide range of security services including force protection,
guard services, port security, surveillance, and counter IED response
services.
A retired CIA special operations officer
founded another company, Overseas Security & Strategic Information,
also advertising with IPOA for security business in Haiti. The company
website says they have a �cadre of US personnel� who served in Special
Forces, Delta Force and SEALS and they state many of their security personnel
are former South African military and
police.
Patrick Elie, the former Minister of Defence
in Haiti, told� Anthony Fenton of the Inter Press Service that �these
guys are like vultures coming to grab the loot over this disaster, and
probably money that might have been
injected into the Haitian economy is just
going to be grabbed by these
companies and I�m sure they are not the only
these mercenary companies but also other
companies like Haliburton or these other ones that always come on the
heels of the troops.�
Naomi Klein, world renowned author of THE
SHOCK DOCTRINE, has criticized the militarization of the response to the
earthquake and the presence of �disaster
capitalists� swooping into Haiti. The high priority placed on security
by the U.S. and NGOs is wrong, she told Newsweek. �Aid should be prioritized
over security. Any aid agency that�s afraid of Haitians should
get out of Haiti.�
Security is a necessity for the development
of human rights. But outsourcing security to private military contractors
has not proven beneficial in the U.S. or any other country. Recently,
U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders
(VT) introduced bills titled �Stop Outsourcing Security� to phase out
private military contractors in response to the many reports of waste,
fraud and human rights abuse.
Human rights organizations have long challenged
the growth in private security contractors in part because governments
have failed to establish effective systems for requiring them to be transparent
and for holding them accountable.
It is challenging enough to hold government
accountable. The privatization of a public service like security
gives government protection to private
corporations which are also difficult to
hold accountable. The combination is doubly difficult to regulate.
The U.S. has prosecuted hardly any of the
human rights abuses reported against private military contractors. Amnesty
International has reviewed the code of conduct adopted by the IPOA and
found it inadequate in which compliance with international human rights
standards are not adequately addressed.
This is yet another example of what the world
saw after Katrina. Private security forces, including Blackwater,
also descended on the U.S. gulf coast after Katrina grabbing millions
of dollars in contracts.
Contractors like these soak up much needed
money which could instead go for job creation or humanitarian and rebuilding
assistance. Haiti certainly does not need this kind of U.S. business.
In a final bit of irony, the IPOA, according
to the Institute for Southern Studies, promises that all profits from
the event will be donated to the Clinton-Bush Haiti relief fund.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist Bill Quigley is is
legal director of the Center
for Constitutional Rights and a long-time human rights advocate in Haiti. He has been an active public interest lawyer since 1977
and has served as counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations
on issues including Katrina social justice issues, public housing, voting
rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties, educational reform,
constitutional rights and civil disobedience. He has litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with the ACLU of Louisiana,
for which he served as General Counsel for over 15 years. You can read the opinion at www.crrjustice.org. Click
here to contact Mr. Quigley. |