Review: The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice

Authors: Kathryn Bolkovac and Carl Lynn
ISBN: 13: 978-0-230-10802-8
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

It takes a great deal of moxy and doggedness to become a whistle blower especially when it involves scandalous crimes perpetrated by United Nations' personnel, NATO troops and other international officials, as well as the local police in Bosnia during the United Nations policing mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this case, the crime was the trafficking of women where women were sold into prostitution from former communist bloc countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

The whistle blower was an American, Kathryn Bolkovac, who along with her co-author Carl Lynn, divulge in detail in The Whistle Blower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman`s Fight for Justice, how Bolkovac opened up a can of worms and uncovered the ugly truth about international police officers involved in human trafficking, forced prostitution and their connections to private mercenary contractors, the United Nations and the U.S. State Department.

In 1998, Bolkovac signed up with DynCorp International. According to its website, this company is ``an international global government services provider in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives, delivering support services for defense, diplomacy, and international development.`` At the time, an International Police Task Force (IPTF) was being put together by the United Nations for Bosnia. DynCorp landed a lucrative contract from the U.S. Government to become part of the operation in recruiting personnel for the force- a kind of rent-a-cop entity.

When Bolkovac saw DynCorp's advertisement for police personnel, she believed that it would be the perfect job for her where she would earn twice the amount she was earning as a police investigator in Nebraska, have a chance to travel, and an opportunity to rebuild a war-to
country. Moreover, at thirty-eight she needed a change in her life and this would give her the opportunity to experience a rewarding and stimulating challenge.

During her stay in Bosnia, Bolkovac had taken on many different assignments one of which was International Police Task Force human rights investigator and, as a result, these led to the accumulation of overwhelming evidence where personnel of the IPTF were carrying on improper relationships with human trafficking victims. There was sufficient evidence to arrest local police officers and IPTF members who were taking bribes from the mafia and raping trafficked women. What is mind boggling and as Bolkovic points out, why was she being paid US taxpayer dollars to collect evidence that she was then forced to suppress? Moreover, her files disappeared, her investigations were thwarted, there were threats on her life and in addition, she was demoted. Eventually, she had to flee Bosnia, after being fired for fear that she would be killed.

Was I surprised to learn about Bolkovac's harrowing experiences? No. After reading several books conce
ing the corruption that runs rampant among some of the agencies of the UN, nothing surprises me anymore. Nonetheless, this did not suppress the anger I felt at officials whom you would expect to act professionally and conduct proper investigations. A sizable group of individuals and government sub-contractors exist that think little of shirking their responsibilities to cover up serious and evil transgressions committed by some of their personnel conce
ing human trafficking and other crimes. In fact, many of these officers conducting these investigations are incompetent and don't have a clue as to how to proceed or are on the take. Without doubt, this is an important book with its unflinching revelations as well as the depictions of the cruelty suffered by these young women at the hands of their brutal captors and the extent of corruption that has crawled under the public radar. Let us hope this book will serve as a wake-up call to action.