A/HRC/4/42 page 12 two South Africans working in Iraq received amnesty after confessing having committed crimes against humanity in South Africa, and one ex-policeman allegedly killed 15 anti-apartheid activists and placed explosives in the homes of between 40 and 60 political activists in South Africa.9 34. In its report to the General Assembly, the Working Group expressed its concern at the participation of the employees of two PMSCs in violating human rights, which occurred in the prison of Abu Ghraib (A/61/341, para. 69). These employees held key functions without being accountable to effective regulatory and control mechanisms, as the employees allegedly implicated have not been subject to any investigation nor sanctioned. Their alleged involvement, with others, in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal “has increased suspicion, especially from the United States military, of the reliability of (private) contractors” and contributed to hamper reconstruction efforts in Iraq.10 The Working Group is concerned that these cases are not isolated, and could represent only a fraction of all cases. As one human rights NGO has noted, while commercialization of PMSCs perhaps could bring more efficiency, the privatization of the use of force inexorably leads to impunity; only 1 out of 20 cases of alleged human rights abuses by PMSC employees towards prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq has been addressed by tribunals.11 35. The Working Group notes a study undertaken at John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, which estimates that some 655,000 Iraqis have died during the war and the occupation of their country.12 These figures have been disputed by the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Iraq. While the exact figure remains to be verified, it would be relevant to also assess how many have been killed by PMSC employees. In this regard, the Working Group notes with concern a CNN television report on the activities of some PMSCs in Iraq, broadcast in June 2006, which included clippings from an amateur video of 9 Estimates vary between 200 and up to 4,000 South Africans working for PMSCs in Iraq. See G. Bell, “Anti-mercenary hill spurs security fears”, Mail and Guardian, 17 August 2006, cited in the report War on Want. See also Louis Nevaer, Pacific News Service, 4 May 2004 and M. Wines, “Anti-mercenary law passed”, New York Times, 30 August 2006. The Working Group also notes reports of South Africans having being directly implicated in March 2004 in the tentative coup d’etat in Equatorial Guinea side-to-side with the British owners of the private companies. See George Monbiot, “Pedigree dog of war”, The Guardian, 25 January 2005, and “Guerriers à louer”, programme Temps Présent, TV Suisse Romande, 2005. 10 James Kwok, op. cit. 11 Alan Cowell, “Rights Group criticizes US over ‘Outsourcing’in Iraq”, New York Times, 24 May 2006. See annual report of Amnesty International USA, available at http://www.amnestyusa.org/annualreport/2006/overview.html. 12 David Brown, “Study claims Iraq’s excess death toll has reached 655,000”, Washington Post, 10 November 2006.