{"id":5746,"date":"2009-06-12T13:37:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-12T12:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=5746"},"modified":"2009-06-12T13:37:29","modified_gmt":"2009-06-12T12:37:29","slug":"abuse-at-british-embassy-investigation-fundamentally-flawed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/abuse-at-british-embassy-investigation-fundamentally-flawed\/","title":{"rendered":"Abuse at British embassy investigation &#8220;fundamentally flawed&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>An investigation into abuse by private staff at the British embassy in Baghdad was &#8220;fundamentally flawed&#8221;, according to Human Rights Watch.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The London director of the group, Tom Porteous, told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee that there needed to be a &#8220;proper investigation&#8221; into the allegations, and that if found guilty those responsible should face sanction.<\/p>\n<p>The initial investigation was conducted by the company, Kellogg Brown and Root, itself, rather than by the UK government.<\/p>\n<p>But Porteous said the Foreign Office has responsibility for the behaviour of its contractors, and should conduct its own inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>He said the investigation also had procedural shortcomings, such as the failure to interview key personnel.<\/p>\n<p>He also accused KBR of allowing those under investigation free access to the complainants.<\/p>\n<p>Porteous added that whilst no disciplinary measures were taken against KBR staff, those that complained were dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>He said that there had since been further allegations of sexual harassment made against the same individuals, &#8220;no doubt a consequence of the impunity that stemmed from this investigation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Those staff who have been the victim of this abuse and those who have been dismissed need to be compensated,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK also slammed the government for its attitude towards private military contractors.<\/p>\n<p>Allen said proposals to allow companies to sign codes of conduct voluntarily was &#8220;absolutely insufficient&#8221;, as well as being &#8220;extraordinarily weak&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you understand how much of what is happening in parts of the world has been contracted out, it is untenable that they not be accountable,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epolitix.com\/\">\u00a92009 Dod&#8217;s Parliamentary Communications Ltd<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An investigation into abuse by private staff at the British embassy in Baghdad was &#8220;fundamentally flawed&#8221;, according to Human Rights Watch. The London director of the group, Tom Porteous, told the House of Commons foreign affairs committee that there needed to be a &#8220;proper investigation&#8221; into the allegations, and that if found guilty those responsible [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1614],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-contributions","7":"category-surveillance-big-brother"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}