Gursharandeep Singh MBA 505 Foundation of Management Dr. D. Frear Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Management June 7, 2014
Section1: Background DynCorp International is a leading global services provider offering unique, tailored solutions for an ever-changing world. Company has six decades of experience as a trusted partner to commercial, military customers, sophisticated aviation, logistics, training, intelligence and operational solutions. DynCorp International has its headquartered in McLean, VA (Anonymous, n.d.). In 1999, DynCorp International performed highly unethical employee activity that gained the attention of community. At that time company was running under operational contract in Bosnia. The U.S. State Department gave DynCorp a multimillion-dollar contract to advise the Iraqi government on setting up effective law enforcement, judicial and correctional agencies. DynCorp arranged up to 1,000 U.S. civilian law enforcement experts to travel to Iraq to help locals "assess threats to public order" and mentor personnel at the municipal, provincial and national levels. The company also provides any logistical or technical support necessary for this peacekeeping project (Anonymous, n.d.). As a private military security DynCorp receives more than 96% of its more than $3 billion in annual revenues from the US federal government. DynCorp employees were exposed to be participating in sex trafficking in Bosnia. Among many unproved military contract scandals, DynCorp was also emerged in the list of international illegal and highly unethical behavior. Based in Virgina, they operate under federal contracts with other agencies worldwide that deploy their employees internationally primarily to support police U.S. military operations and provide technical and maintenance support (Baylis, 2012). Over the subsequent years since the allegations of sex slavery came to light, DynCorp has prolonged attempts to secure themselves from the claims and protected many employees that should have been exposed to legal consequences. This activity gave rise to the concerns regarding the transferal of U.S. foreign policy across geographical borderlines where the U.S. employed individuals are situated (Baylis, 2012). According to media information two characters have been regarded as the main whistleblowers to this illegal activity. Kathryn Bolkovac, employed by DynCorp and under contract working as a Police Force monitor as a UN peacekeeper prompted the disclosure of the activity. As it became seeming that DynCorp employees were involved in easing the buying and selling of women and children for sex trafficking, Bolkovac reported the illegal behavior and was fired by DynCorp. She was unaware of the fact that her morality and truthfulness would result in her termination from DynCorp. Bolkovacs resulting unfair firing motivated her to later file a lawsuit in Great Britain against the company. The case also saw the forced resignation of DynCorp employees who were allegedly instrumental in the illegal activity, however; still no legal consequences fell upon those employees (Baylis, 2012). Ms. Bolkovac won $200,000 in a 2003 court ruling against the London-based DynCorp subsidiary that had employed her. Ms. Bolkovac said she was particularly galled at the fact that DynCorp had hired American police officers to teach Bosnians how to instill law and order in their war-ravaged country, but instead, trainers broke the law with apparent impunity (Robberson, 2007). Bolkovac had initially been working closely with abuse victims from the war, many women and children that had been victims of sex trafficking. What ended up surfacing was the awareness that other police workers that had been deployed for purposes of UN missions, were in fact participating in abusive sexual activity and also aiding to falsify documents lending to the disguise of the buying and selling of the women and children (Vulliamy, 2012). The second publically identified whistleblower Ben Johnston of the DynCorp scandal was employed by DynCorp and was upset from the sexual misconduct of his colleagues. Johnston initially reported the activities of the employees to his supervisor, John Hirtz. According to Kelly Patricia OMeara, DynCorp leadership was 100 percent in bed with the mafia over there, (OMeara, 2002). Hirtz was in fact the part of sex slave circle and was at the heart of the international trafficking of women and children (OMeara, 2002). The Bosnian police were the first to begin inquiry of DynCorp employee misconduct. DynCorp effectively detached their employees from the jurisdiction of the misconduct, therefore ensuring employee protection from legal consequence. More thorough investigation by US Army Criminal Investigation Division made it clear that due to the loopholes of interagency collaborations, the U.S. military was unable to exert legal force upon employees ultimately contracted under the United Nations. Further interagency conflicts are highlighted by the fact the Bosnian police also had no jurisdiction to charge employees contracted by the United Nations (Isenberg, 2009). DynCorp still remains to have maintained its contract with the U.S. military after firing or removing employees from Bosnia. The fact that the U.S. government were educated to the extent of the violations and unlawful behavior and allowed for the avoidance of legal consequence brands the U.S. image with a highly unethical shadow. After the Bosnian administration demanded that DynCorp remove employees from their contract, the private military contractor company transferred the accused to Germany (Isenberg, 2009).
Section 2: Ethical concepts violated In the case of DynCorp International firstly, unethical behavior surrounding unfair termination of employees and attempts to cover-up illegal actions i.e. sex trafficking, the buying and selling of vulnerable women and children brought about the most significant ethical violation. Women and young children human rights were also violated over a significant period of its contract with the United Nations. The phenomenon of sex trafficking has reached global extents (Agathangelou and Ling, 2003) and is increasingly associated with war or post-war environments with high presence of military contractors (Baylis, 2012). Human rights violation is perhaps the most offensive form of ethical violation in society. Every human has been granted rights by law and exploitation of these rights is highly unethical. Human rights are among the most frequently violated ethical boundaries. In the case of DynCorp, the victims were moved internationally, violating bodily and freedom of movement rights. The Advocate for Human Rights explains the activity of trafficking humans violates many human rights. These include civil and political rights, the right to bodily integrity, ones freedom of movement and many others. The ethical violations on each and every adult and child that was objected to abuse from DynCorp employees suffered major human rights violations (Anonymous, 2005). The company has low ethical standards reflecting on DynCorps response to Bolkvoac and Johnston after their display of honesty in reporting such unethical behavior. The argument that individual responsibility could not be pinpointed is inappropriate as both Bolkovac and Johnston was able to state the names of those DynCorp employees involved in the illegal behavior. However, it is argued by many researchers that it is the individuals that are employed that are the ones to be held liable, as they are the moral actors. From the standpoint of labeling the responsibility of the ethical violations, it is responsibility of both company and individual (Agathangelou and Ling, 2003). The lawfulness of private military security companies from an ethical perspective is faulty because these employees are not secured under any regulatory framework to ensure ethical and legal behavior is upheld while on duty. PMSCs are a rising phenomenon and progressively being utilized as substitute for foreign policy. With the deep-rooted commonality of such practice now globally, governments can no longer have enough money to protect employees from the legal framework. The growth in human rights violation cases is growing simultaneous to the growth of PMSCs. Therefore, government needs to exercise regulatory measures. PMSCs are effectively non-state entities that operate in legally unclear situations (Gomez del Prado, 2012). Section 3: What could have been done differently? The incidents of private military contracted employees engaging in sex trafficking and related illegal behavior are common even though the big companies like DynCorp are unaware of the issues and engaging in such activities that show poor ethical practice in business. Those employed by DynCorp are effectively U.S. government employees. The ethical values to be encouraged in a position under government are perhaps higher than those to be held in other business environments (Anonymous, n.d.). The main mistake, aside from the obvious illegal activity that is the focus of the DynCorp scandal, is the poor friendly behavior of the managerial DynCorp employees. The good image of DynCorp is established through each individual employees contribution to the moral make up of the company (Baylis, 2012). DynCorp claim that they as a company are committed to doing business honestly and ethically, but they are highly encouraging of ensuring employees express any concerns about colleagues and report any violations of law (Anonymous, n.d.). With Johnston supposedly hired for a company that supports integrity and honesty when it comes to legal violations, it should have been a procedural report of concern, not employment termination. The framework of DynCorp consists of individual actors. The company does however demonstrate on the company website that they provide a handbook for their employees to follow, the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Many philosophers dispute the argument that the whole organization can be held accountable when it is the individuals that preform the offense (Anonymous, n.d.). Necessity for international regulation The United States should work towards The Swiss Initiative. With the development in the new industry of Private military and Security Companies and many countries now outsourcing military and policing operations there is need for more solid framework when employees are working internationally. The Swiss Initiative began as a consultation process among stakeholders of those involved with private military contracts extended from Switzerland. The Swiss government, the private contractors and the civil society of the host country all collaborated (Gomez del Prado, 2011). What has resulted is legal documentation between the Swiss government and the Swiss private military companies and domestically supported policy frameworks with the U.S. and the U.K. A significant proportion of Swiss private military and security company contracts are located in both countries and it was therefore important to establish a collaborative framework, should there be any violation of human rights whilst under contract (Gomez del Prado, 2011). The Swiss Initiative, tied with the many other concerned states, brought about the development of official documentation framing good practice for private military and security contractors when operating abroad. The document is called, the Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict (Gomez del Prado, 2011). With the growing recognition for the need for strict legal frameworks and government initiated responsibility, the future of human rights violations by private military and security companies should significantly lower. This initiated collaborative effort amongst many international states to agree on a common policy to frame future human rights violation cases is an encouraging step in the right direction. The Swiss Initiative is also executing the second phase, which will bring about an International Code of Conduct for private military security companies (Gomez del Prado, 2011).
References Anonymous. (2005). Trafficking violates women's human rights. Advocates for human rights. Retrieved June 4, 2014 from: http://www.stopvaw.org/trafficking_violates_women_s_human_rights Agathangelou, A. M. & Ling, L. H. (2003). Desire industries: Sex trafficking, UN peacekeeping, and the Neo-Liberal World order. Brown journal of world affairs, X(1), 133-148. Retrieved from: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/isht/study_group/2010/pdf/DesireIndustries.pdf Baylis, E. (2012). Promoting contractor accountability in conflict zones. Journal of international law and international relations. Retrieved from: http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jilwirl8&div=9&id=&pag e= Gomez del Prado, J. L. (2001). Impact on human rights of a new non-state actor: Private military and security companies. The brown journal of world affairs. XVIII(1), 151-169. Retrieved from: http://emmerson.csc.wilkes.edu:3672/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a39504c6-5ad3- 480c-b1cc-390a40f802c9%40sessionmgr110&vid=6&hid=122 Isenberg, D. (2009). Sex and security in Afghanistan. CATO institute Retrieved June 4, 2014 from: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/sex-security-afghanistan Vulliamy, E. (2012). Has the UN learned lessons of Bosnian sex slavery revealed in Rachel Weisz film? Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/15/bosnia-sex-trafficking-whistleblower Anonymous. (n.d.). Code of ethics and business conduct. DynCorp International, Inc. Retrieved June 4, 2014 from: http://www.dyn-intl.com/about-di/values-code-of-conduct/ Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective. (2007). Accusation against the transnational DynCorp. Retrieved June 4, 2014 from: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDIQFj AB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prensarural.org%2Fspip%2FIMG%2Fdoc%2Fdyncorp _acus_eng.doc&ei=K8LtUtCMK7PisATN-4LgAQ&usg=AFQjCNEcZAYWp 3IiJVmYxssMWKJF_pKQ&sig2=5XxziWFx7tLnW1jjkFC7g&bvm=bv.60444564,d.cc O'Meara, K. P. (2002). US: DynCorp disgrace. Insight magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11119 Robberson, T. (2007). Employees not convinced whistle-blowers are safe. The Dallas morning news. Retrieved June 4, 2014 from: http://www.contractormisconduct.org/ass/contractors/59/cases/688/760/veritas-capital- dyncorp-in-bosnia_dmn.pdf