Baghdad, Iraq, Iraq

Iraq · Baghdad, Iraq · 2008 (location generalized to protect survivors)

About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work. On Tuesday, they staged a march outside their compound to protest their living conditions. While the main complaint in the warehouses centered on living in what many considered prison-like conditions, Najlaa officials said it was crucial to keep the men in the compound to prevent kidnappings or other dangers. "We're in Iraq; it's a war zone," said Isha Rufaie, a Najlaa logistics manager who tried to calm the protest Tuesday. "It's really dirty," a Sri Lankan man told McClatchy, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he still wants to work for Najlaa. "For all of us, there are about 12 toilets and about 10 bathrooms. The food — it's three half-liter (one pint) bottles of water a day. Bread, cheese and jam for breakfast. Lunch is a small piece of meat, potato and rice. Dinner is rice and dal, but it's not dal," he said, referring to the Indian lentil dish. The protest, nonetheless, caught the attention of Sabre, a British company that holds a contract to maintain security at the airport. Sabre officers halted the protest by telling Najlaa to get the men back in the compound. Najlaa officials did so by telling the men they'd be paid Tuesday. They returned to the camp voicing skepticism that Najlaa would follow through. Some of them, reached by phone later in the day, said they hadn't been paid. Sabre representatives said they've closed similar buildings housing laborers near the airport in the past. Peters, the Sri Lankan, had a message for his countrymen who might consider pursuing work in Iraq. "There is little money here. The jobs do not come easily and people are being held against their wishes," he said. A group of about 50 men living in tents about a mile away were even worse off than the men in the warehouses, and they appeared to be victims of human trafficking. They live in huts they built with tarps and pieces of carpet, and said they had no access to food or water. The property is under the control of the Iraq Civil Aviation Administration, which couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. After McClatchy (newspaper company) began asking questions about the men on Tuesday, the Kuwaiti contractor announced that it would return them to their home countries and pay them back salaries. Najlaa officials contended that they've cared for the men's basic needs while the company has tried to find them jobs in Iraq. It's unknown if the workers have been sent home and whether they've been paid. KBR didn't answer direct questions about the warehouses but issued a two-paragraph statement. "When KBR becomes aware of potential violations of international laws regarding trafficking in persons, we work, within our authority, to remediate the problem and report the matter to proper authorities. KBR then works with authorities to rectify the matter," it said. It is unclear who the "proper authorities" are in this case. It appears that the victims themselves were able to get out of their holding warehouse and newspaper services such as The Times of London and McClatchy news services caught wind of their protest.