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Current US President Donald Trump pardoned four employees of the US private security company Blackwater, who were found guilty of numerous crimes committed in Iraq in 2007 against civilians prior to his departure from office. The Geneva Conventions oblige states to hold war criminals accountable, even if they act as employees of private security companies, said Elena Aparats, head of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries.
US President Donald Trump’s pardon of four Americans convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working on a contract in 2007 violated US obligations under international law. This was announced today by UN human rights experts, writes the UN News Center.
Employees of the US private security company Blackwater were found guilty of numerous crimes committed during the 2007 massacre in Baghdad’s Nisur Square, which killed 14 civilians and injured at least 17 people. In 2015, the United States convicted Nicholas Slatten of aggravated murder, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Hurd of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
On December 22, 2020, the outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, pardoned the four convicts.
“The pardon of Blackwater employees is a challenge to justice and a blow to the victims of the Nisur massacre and their families,” said Elena Aparats, head of the UN working group on the use of mercenaries.
He recalled that the Geneva Conventions oblige states to hold war criminals accountable, even if they act as employees of private security companies.
“These pardons violate the United States’ obligations under international law and, more generally, undermine humanitarian and human rights law around the world,” members of the task force said in a joint statement.
The experts noted that by resorting to the services of private security companies, whose employees operate with impunity in zones of armed conflict, States are evading their obligations under international humanitarian law.
“A pardon, amnesty or any other form of waiver of liability for war crimes is a kind of green light for such atrocities by employees of private military and security companies, who practically perform state functions under contract,” Aparatz said.
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