"Hold Military Contractor KBR Accountable for Deadly Trafficking Scheme", 24 Sep 2015

In 2004, thirteen Nepali laborers were offered jobs in a luxury hotel and restaurants in Amman, Jordan…But at the end of their long journeys, the workers found…a trafficking scheme that forced them into a war zone in Iraq, where they were sent to work for a U.S. military contractor…In 2008, the one surviving trafficked worker and the families of the twelve who were murdered sued KBR…The plaintiffs alleged multiple violations of U.S. law, including…the…Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (“TVPRA”) and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”)…[T]he district court…finally [ruled] in 2014 that neither the TVPRA nor the ATS could be applied outside of the United States. Human Rights First is working with a group of retired U.S. admirals and generals to…challeng[e] the district court’s decision. The retired military leaders argue that, in light of the transnational nature of trafficking, the legal framework in place at the time, and…the military’s own overt anti-slavery efforts, KBR and Daoud knew that they could not traffic with impunity.