An eight-year-old policy forbidding govenment contractors and employees from engaging in sex trafficking in war zones has proven almost impossible to enforce, despite indications that such activities are occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan
The policy, instituted eight years ago by President George W. Bush and still in effect today, calls for prosecutions of government employees and contractors and suspensions or disqualifications of companies whose workers engage in trafficking. Bush's get-tough language also threatened criminal prosecutions for solicitation of prostitutes because many of the women are forced into the work.
Agencies say the cases are difficult to pursue because of limited investigative resources and jurisdictional questions. But some experts and lawmakers believe that authorities are turning a blind eye to evidence of such crimes.
"Zero prosecutions," said attorney Martina Vandenberg, a former Human Rights Watch investigator, "suggests zero effort to enforce the law."
The State Department reported recently that allegations of contractor employees procuring commercial sex acts were "well publicized" but noted that no contractors have been prosecuted and no contracts terminated.
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., author of 2000 U.S. anti-trafficking law, questions whether agencies vigorously pursue allegations. "If you care about the women who are being exploited, you don't look askance when those that we're paying to do jobs for us are exploiting them," he said.