Kathryn Bolkovac was demoted to a desk job after raising sex trafficking concerns. Funny they should mention that as the Declaration has some provisions relevant to dancing boys: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. It soon developed conveniently, according to Johnston's attorneys, that he wasimplicated by a DynCorp employee for illegal activity in Bosnia. There were big-time drinking issues. Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for BenJohnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blewthe whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doingbusiness in Bosnia. [19] At this time, revenues for the company reached $6 million. This was captured on video. [106][107], According to The New York Times, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) found that "DynCorp seemed to act almost independently of its reporting officers at the Department of State, billing the United States for millions of dollars of work that were not authorized and beginning other jobs without a go-ahead. Apparently, US diplomats told him not to worry, and the story was in fact watered down substantially. The factis, DynCorp is the worst diplomat you could possibly have over there.". Just be forewarned, this is not an easy road ahead of you.. For example, according to DynCorp employee Kevin Werner's sworn statement to CID, "during my last six months I have come to know a man we call 'Debeli,' which is Bosnian for fat boy. And, yes, it does have some relevance. DynCorp adheres to a core set of values thathas served as the backbone of our corporation for the last 55 years, helping usbecome one of the largest and most respected professional-services andoutsourcing companies in the world. A DynCorp van would pick us up every morning and you could smell the alcohol on them. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Hirtz: I don't know. WebWe protect women and children, but these are dark-skinned men, says Sam McCahon, an attorney based in India. I didn't get any results from talking to DynCorp officials, so I went to Army CID and I drove around with them, pointing out everyone's houses who owned women and weapons." Werner tells CID, "I told him [Hirtz] I had a copy and that all I wanted was to be treated fairly. Amb Mussomeli opened that the incident deeply upset us and we took strong steps in response.An investigation is on-going, disciplinary actions were taken against DynCorp leaders in Afghanistan, we are also aware of proposals for new procedures, such as stationing a military officer at RTCs, that have been introduced for consideration. In Africa DI Development strengthened government financial management in Ghana, assisted in peace and recovery advancement in Uganda, and led anti-corruption programs in Madagascar, Malawi, and Nigeria. DynCorp was ultimately ordered to pay a pittance for Bolkovacs wrongful termination and fired seven employees who never faced criminal prosecution. While there, she made the harrowing discovery of a child sex trafficking ring that not only was connected to the companys most powerful people but was also being covered up by the United Nations. Widney Brown, an advocate for Human Rights Watch, tells INSIGHT "ourgovernment has an obligation to tell these companies that this behavior iswrong and they will be held accountable. The problem was he would literally fall asleep every five minutes. While the U.N. established a Conduct of Discipline Unit in 2007 to address these issues, Bolkovac was unconvinced of its efficacy. [37], DynCorp International provides aviation support to reduce the flow of illicit drugs, strengthen law enforcement, and eliminate terrorism. There is a lot of evidence that shows this waswhat they were doing and that it went all the way up the management chain." [75] Dyncorp International employs 300 intelligence professionals to offer highly specialized training for intelligence, counterintelligence, special operations and law enforcement personnel. I don't think it was her saying "no." [19], By 1961 California Eastern Aviation needed a new name to reflect the growing and diversifying company. It's not like I don't drink or anything, but DynCorp employees would come to work drunk. ", but were not prosecuted. [40][41] Specifically, they provide on-site work for project testing, transient, loaner, leased and tested civilian aircraft services. DynCorps had very bad records already. 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One should be able to figure that out without having to contact headquarters for guidance. They had one kid, James Harlin, over there who was right out of high school and he didn't even know the names and purposes of the basic tools. Web70 per cent of the revenue from trafficking in Bosnia (Mendelson 2005). We have to show that there was acausal connection between Ben's whistle-blowing about the sex trade and hisbeing fired. Media reports indicated that some DynCorp employees purchased trafficked women and children as well as benefiting from free sex in brothels. The revelry lasted about 45 minutes. [11] DynCorp was also hired to assist recovery in Louisiana and neighboring areas after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, there was this one guy who had to be 60 years old who had a girl who couldn't have been 14. [citation needed] DynCorp Technical Services LLC continued to perform DynCorp's domestic contracts. This is avery distressing story - especially when you think that these people andorganizations are going into these countries to try and make it better, torestore a rule of law and some civility." [79] DynCorp International was also given a $17.1 million task order to provide leadership to military personnel of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "[29] Shapiro notes that during Bannister's tenure Dyncorp had also "supplied bodyguards to Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in the 1990s and to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the early 2000s. That departure from the war-torn country was a far cry from what Johnston imagined a year earlierwhen he arrived in Bosnia to begin a three-year U.S. Air Force contract with DynCorp as an aircraft-maintenance technician for Apache and Blackhawk helicopters. A number of employees were transferred out of the country, but with no legal consequences for them. These guys would say 'I gotta go to, this weekend topick up three girls.' But the US embassy was legally incapable of honoring Atmar's request that the US military should assume authority over training centers managed by DynCorp. [12][13] The company held one contract on every round of competition since receiving the first Contract Field Teams contract in 1951. The event described is also know as bacha bazi (boy-play). WebChild Trafficking: Myth vs. I mean, lets face it: the locals didnt have the money to spend on this kind of an operation., Indeed, the operation was expansive. [82], DynCorp provides military base operations and vehicle maintenance. While most recently in April of 2017 the Vice President of Business Development for DynCorp, James Grazioplene, was arrested for molesting children in the 1980s, this was during his term as an officer in the United States Army. But it didnt take long for Bolkovac to realize that DynCorp was engaging in the kinds of human rights violations it was meant to combat. According to follow-up work carried out by the Lawyers Collective it was discovered that one of the minors involved in the videos committed suicide some time after the publication of them.. The other, involved air plane mechanic Ben Johnston who sued DynCorp, alleging he was sacked because he had uncovered evidence that Dyncorp employees were involved in 'sexual slavery. On the Kunduz Regional Training Center (RTC) DynCorp event of April 11 (reftel), Atmar reiterated his insistence that the U.S. try to quash any news article on the incident or circulation of a video connected with it. WebThe New York-based Somaly Mam Foundation, set up by a Cambodian woman who was trafficked as a child, estimates there are 2.7 million people enslaved globally, 85 per cent It was involved in a sex and human trafficking scandal in Bosnia in 1999 and also where included in a investigation made by The Chicago Tribune in 2005 about the government cover up of child trafficking made by military contractors. WebOn August 1, 2002, a British employment tribunal found that DynCorp had unfairly dismissed employee, Kathy Bolkovac, an employee who had blown the whistle on the [127], DynCorp lobbied the Trump administration intensely to get the Trump administration to rescind a $10 billion contract that the Obama administration made with a rival company to service State Department aircraft.[128]. Given this incident it is easier to understand why earlier this year Karzai issued a decree calling for the dissolution of all private security companies by the end of the year, an edict that has since been slightly watered down. Bolkovac found that brothels disguised as bars, restaurants, hotels, and clubs were just scattered throughout the hills of Bosnia.. [8][9] The corporate headquarters were in an unincorporated part of Fairfax County near Falls Church, Virginia, while the company's contracts were managed from its office at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. DynCorp leadership was 100 percent in bed with the mafia over there. [112], A January 2010 SIGIR report assessed that oversight of DynCorp police training contracts by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs found that INL exhibited weak oversight of the DynCorp task orders for support of the Iraqi police training program. Evidence of the involvement of some DynCorp employees came from two whistleblowers, Kathryn Bolkovac and Ben Johnston. Daily star.com.lb 10 November 2015. We talk about thefuture of the children, helping to build economies, democracy, the rule of law,and at the same time we fail to prosecute cases like this. Looking at these facts, he said, he wanted CSTC-A in charge. Kathryn Bolkovac was fired from DynCorp when she brought concerns over the company engaging in human trafficking in Bosnia. [68] DI Development provides humanitarian aid, reconstruction to conflict and post-conflict areas, and governance reforms. Comey Has Had Marc Richs Documents For 30 Years. As of 2014 no one had been prosecuted. One could also note that, in a much less noticed case, in October 2004 it was revealed that DynCorp contract workers operating at Tolemaida Air Base in Colombia distributed a video in which they could be observed sexually violating underage girls from the town of Melgar. [35] In 2011 Dyncorp set a company record with 12,300 new hires, bringing the total number of employees to 27,000. [81], Two DynCorp American employees were among the five killed in Jordan by a co-worker on 9 November 2015. They should be sending a clearmessage that it won't be tolerated. Some 15 or so DynCorp employees in attendance pulled out a single chair and had the boy do mock lap dances. We talk about thefuture of the children, helping to build economies, democracy, the rule of law,and at the same time we fail to prosecute cases like this. DynCorp is one of the signatories to this. Kelly Patricia O'Meara is an investigative reporter for Insight. [19], In December 2000 DynCorp formed DynCorp International LLC, and transferred all its international business to this entity. Put bluntly, DynCorp was involved in a sex slavery scandal in Bosnia in 1999, with its employees accused of rape and the buying and selling of girls as young as 12. Actually, there is nothing in the DynCorp code of ethics that is remotely applicable to this situation. Operating from across California, aircraft can reach most fires within 20 minutes. This video was even sold on the main streets of Bogot. To summarize the plot, in Bosnia in 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.S. policewoman served as a U.N. peacekeeper. After learned about the media involvement, Cheryl D. Mills, while being Counselor of the United States Department of State, sent an e-mail to Hillary Clinton to heads up about the scandal, stating the importance of dealing with the story before it went public. But if it doesn't ISOA does have a grievance procedure where anyone can make a complaint about one of its member companies. [citation needed] By the time of his retirement in 2003, Shapiro notes that Bannister "oversaw the acquisition of more than 40 companies [and] was credited with helping to mold an aviation services company into a sprawling conglomerate that employed 24,000 people and earned $2.4billion in annual revenue. DynCorp Govt Contracts Need To Be Reviewed. Hirtz: I don't recall her saying that. ", was working with CID. WebThirty-three missing children were recovered this month in an anti-human trafficking operation led by FBIs Los Angeles field office, the bureau said in a statement Friday. [42] They have also provided air operations support in Iraq, including search and rescue, medical evacuations, and transporting quick reaction forces. [110] In April 2011 DynCorp agreed to pay $7.7 million to the U.S. government to settle claims that it had inflated claims for construction contracts in Iraq. Atmar said that President Karzai had told him that his (Atmar's) "prestige" was in play in management of the Kunduz DynCorp matter and another recent event in which Blackwater contractors mistakenly killed several Afghan citizens. A week later he received a letter ofdischarge for bringing "discredit to the company and the U.S. Army whileworking in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina." Fact. [47] Additionally, DynCorp provides aircraft maintenance support to facilities including the NAS Patuxent River,[59] Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, NASA facilities in El Paso, Texas, Edwards Air Force Base in California,[57] and Robins Air Force Base (AFB) in Georgia.[55]. That'sabsurd." But wait, what about that recently signed International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers that was signed in Geneva last month to much fanfare. And indeed, one can look forward to more on the subject when Ms. Bolkovac's book on the incident is released this coming January. The State Department has called bacha bazi a widespread, culturally accepted form of male rape.. The discharge notice did not say howJohnston "brought discredit to the company." TheU.S. says it wants to eradicate trafficking of people, has established an officein the State Department for this purpose, and yet neither State nor thegovernment-contracting authorities have stepped in and done an investigationof this matter." And what does it meanwhen the U.S. steps up and says, 'We don't have any jurisdiction'? [118][121][122][123] In response to the incident, DynCorp fired four senior managers and established a chief compliance officer position, which focused on ethics, business conduct, related investigations, and regulatory compliance. Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.N. InternationalPolice Force monitor hired by the U.S. company on another U.N.-relatedcontract, has filed a lawsuit in Great Britain against DynCorp for wrongfultermination. WebThe former US policewoman Kathryn Bolkovac was hired in 1999 by DynCorp Aerospace for a UN post aimed at cracking down on sexual abuse and forced prostitution in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dont be afraid to change the world, Bolkovac said. I didn't get any results from talking to DynCorp officials, so I went to Army CID and I drove around with them, pointing out everyone's houses who owned women and weapons. Rape isa crime no matter where it occurs and it's important to remember that evenprostitution is against the law in Bosnia. 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