UN uncovers mercenary recruitment in Peru (for work in Iraq & Iran)

UN uncovers mercenary recruitment in Peru
Submitted by WW4 Report on Mon, 02/19/2007 - 22:48.

A UN working group recently investigated abuses by private security firms recruiting and training hundreds of Peruvians to work as mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan. (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Feb. 5) Mercenaries are currently the second largest military force in Iraq, with numbers estimated as great as 50,000. Britain is next in line with 10,000 troops. This marks a shift from the "coalition of the willing" to a "coalition of the billing" used to complement the 130,000-strong US occupying force in Iraq. (AFP, Feb. 3)

The U.N. working group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination visited Peru from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2. Last year the working group visited Ecuador and Honduras. Reports on these two countries are expected to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council at the end of March.

Accroding to the UN "mercenaries or mercenary-related activities are a threat to peace, security and the self-determination of peoples and an obstacle to the enjoyment of all human rights by peoples."

The UN working group, while in Peru, also investigated the case of a local priest involved in a struggle against a gold mine who claims to have been harassed by private security agents contracted by Yanacocha Mining Corporation, a subsidiary of the Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation.
(snip/...)

http://www.ww4report.com/node/3184

by Angel Paez via CorpWatch.org

More about the former Peruvian military and police mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus details about "Operacion El Diablo", apparently a program aimed at human rights activists and opposition to Yanacocha (half-owned by Newport Mining Corp).

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14350

fair use cited

William Boyce Thompson was many things, he was Chairman of the Federal Reserve 1917-19; he "supported" the Bolsheviks and manipulated the American Red Cross; he was Treasurer of The Republican Party in 1921; he made fortunes in diamonds in South Africa, gold and other precious metals. He said he loved peace.

"money trumps peace, sometimes"

"Col." William Boyce Thompson profile
http://www.yonkershistory.org/8_2_2.html

Newmont Mining Corporation
Officers
http://www.newmont.com/en/investor/governance/executives.asp

Board of Directors
http://www.newmont.com/en/investor/governance/board.asp

fair use cited