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On September 16, at least 17 Iraqis were killed after personnel of Blackwater Worldwide, a contractor of the U.S. State Department, reportedly shot several rounds from their armored vehicles in Baghdad. This is neither the first time nor an isolated incident of Blackwater personnel using lethal force against Iraqi civilians. Call on Blackwater to take their human rights responsibilities seriously.
Employees and individual contractors of US government contracted companies are alleged to have abused, tortured and killed people in areas including Iraq and Afghanistan, but not a single one has been brought to justice. Tell Congress to demand accountability of contractors in the "war on terror."
Jamie Leigh Jones was reportedly drugged, gang-raped and imprisoned in a container by fellow KBR co-workers in 2005 while working in Iraq on a U.S. Defense Department contract. Like the Abu Ghraib torture victims who still have not seen justice after more than four years, the abuse Jones says she suffered at the hands of private contractors over two years ago has not seen the light of a criminal trial. PDF format | RTF format
Amnesty International has received consistent reports that U.S. authorities have a network of secret detention centers around the globe, holding an unknown number of "war on terror" detainees in unknown conditions. In September 2005, Amnesty International spoke with Muhammad al-Assad, a man who had been caught up in this sinister system. He was effectively "disappeared" by the United States for over 16 months.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged in a public statement on January 29, 2005 that 69 per cent of the people of Afghanistan or members of their families were the victims of cases of human rights violations over the past two and half decades. Call on the Afghan government to take measures to establish justice for the people of Afghanistan.
During years of repression, many members of China's mainly Muslim Uighur minority have fled to neighbouring countries. Their lives are at risk, as China pressures for their forcible return.
