Bart Schwartz: Independent Oversight
New York attorney Bart Schwartz, who headed up the criminal division under former U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, has made a career out of ensuring that governments and corporations follow through on their promises.
Since launching his own business as an independent evaluator, he has been retained by Hewlett-Packard to conduct a worldwide review of its investigative practices, examine the investigation by Texaco into allegations of racial discrimination and audit New York City's procurement process for $5 billion worth of subway cars.
Earlier this year, Schwartz was hired by the UAE government to monitor the claims facilities program established as part of the UAE/UNICEF program to rescue and repatriate the former child camel jockeys. Since then, he has traveled to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan to oversee the establishment of the compensation boards and monitor their review process and the distribution of the awards. Mauritania is next on his list.
Monitoring the UAE/UNICEF's ambitious program has been particularly challenging because it involves five countries, multiple government agencies and NGOs. In several areas, the governments have been struggling with political turmoil and internal unrest, further complicating these efforts.
One size does not fit all. Schwartz said one of the most difficult things has been establishing a system to ensure that the monetary awards end up in the right hands. Whenever possible, the home governments are establishing trust funds so the compensation can be deposited by the UAE directly and will be accessible only to the boys and their guardians. In Sudan, however, the banking system is not well-developed and the funds are going directly to the children and their families.
"I don't see how this could have happened without the UAE deciding that they wanted to do this, and do it the right way," Schwartz said during an interview at his New York office on April 19, 2008. "But it's not simply just writing a check and walking away from it; they're very conscientious about having this done the right way. Whenever I've had a question or we've had to deal with issues, it's always come out the way that I think is the right way to accomplish the goals of the program, which is to help the boys who were involved in camel racing at the camel farms."
