[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E745-E746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A PATHWAY TO FREEDOM: RESCUE AND REFUGE FOR VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 19, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I recently chaired a hearing 
focusing on the fight against human trafficking--an insidious human 
rights abuse that thrives in an environment of secrecy, of silence, and 
of a mindset that says that it is somebody else's problem.
   The truth of the matter is that combating modern-day slavery is 
everybody's business. We are all in this together. Cooperation and 
coordination are key to mitigating--and someday ending--this pervasive 
cruelty.
   Significant progress has been made since I authored landmark 
legislation--the Trafficking Victim's Protection Act of 2000, or TVPA--
to combat sex and labor trafficking in the United States and globally. 
When I first introduced the TVPA in 1998 however, I was repeatedly told 
by detractors that it was a ``solution in search of a problem.''
   The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and its 2003 and 
2005 reauthorizations, which I also authored, launched a bold new 
strategy that included sheltering, political asylum, and other 
protections for the victims; long jail sentences and asset confiscation 
for the traffickers; and tough sanctions for governments that failed to 
meet minimum standards prescribed in the TVPA.
   And for the first time ever, the law recognized the exploited as 
victims--not perpetrators of a crime. Since 2004, the TVPA has resulted 
in Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces in 42 cities across the U.S. 
These task forces identify potential victims of human trafficking, 
coordinate local and federal law enforcement to rescue victims, assist 
with referrals for victim care, and train law enforcement.
   Last week's hearing concentrated on rescue and refuge.
   In January of 2000, I received actionable information that eight 
Ukrainian women were being exploited by sex traffickers in two bars in 
Montenegro. The women had been lured there with promises of legitimate 
work, then forced into prostitution. One desperate victim, however, 
called her mother for help using the phone of one of the men exploiting 
her.
   When informed, I immediately called the Prime Minister of 
Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic, who personally ordered an immediate raid 
on the bar. As a result, seven of the eight women were rescued and 
returned to their families in Ukraine. Tragically, the eighth woman was 
trafficked to Albania prior to the raid.
   We know that organized crime, street gangs, and pimps around the 
world have expanded into sex trafficking at an alarming rate. It is an 
extremely lucrative undertaking: a trafficker can make hundreds of 
thousands of dollars a year off just one victim. Unlike drugs or 
weapons, a human being can be held captive and sold into sexual slavery 
over and over again. Pornography and the devaluation of women are 
helping to drive demand.
   And while our Department of Justice and Department of Homeland 
Security works with law enforcement abroad in sting operations to catch 
American pedophile sex tourists and rescue victims where there is a 
nexus with the United States, they cannot conduct rescue operations or 
run investigations that fall outside their jurisdiction.
   Nevertheless, there still are victims--someone's young son or 
daughter being cruelly exploited. Into this gap steps non-governmental 
rescue operations. Some of the best are staffed by former Navy SEALs, 
ex-CIA agents, and even the occasional sitting member of State 
government. That is who we heard from last week--from witnesses that 
include a former CIA agent now involved in rescuing the most 
vulnerable, and a sitting state Attorney General.
   We also heard from a former member of the Mexican Congress who has 
fought trafficking her entire career. And we heard from a victim of 
trafficking, who told us about the importance of refuge and 
rehabilitation following rescue.
   Operation Underground Railroad has made it their business, literally 
and figuratively, to identify children being sex trafficked in other 
countries, and then to partner with the relevant foreign government 
entities for the rescue and rehabilitation of these children.
   Operation Underground Railroad members frequently pose as American 
sex tourists who enlist traffickers to host sex parties for them--it is 
such a common occurrence in many Latin American nations that it 
provides the perfect cover for Operation Underground Railroad to lure 
the traffickers with the children for sale to a preset location, and 
then have the local authorities ready to bust the traffickers as well 
as rescue the children. Operation Underground Railroad also trains the 
local governments in how to conduct stings on traffickers, and on the 
rehabilitative needs of the trafficking victims.
   Yet the magnitude of the problem remains huge.
   Worldwide, in the past two years, 80,000 trafficking victims have 
been identified--a small percentage of the estimated 20.9 million 
victims in the world, but evidence that with a combination of 
encouragement, plus some persuasion and sustained pressure via 
sanctions imposed by the United States, countries are moving in the 
right direction.

[[Page E746]]

   Child traffickers cater to child predators--a crime that thrives on 
secrecy. In 1994, a young girl in my hometown was lured into the home 
of a convicted pedophile who lived across the street from her. Megan 
Kanka, seven, was raped and murdered.
   No one, including Megan Kanka's parents, knew that their neighbor 
had been convicted of child sexual assault. The outrage over this 
tragedy led to enactment of Megan's Law--public sex offender 
registries--in every state in the country.
   I thought up the idea for International Megan's Law to Prevent 
Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (H.R. 515), already passed by the 
House and now pending in the U.S. Senate, in a conversation with a 
trafficking in person's delegation from Thailand during a meeting in my 
office in 2007. I asked what Thai officials would do if we were to 
notify them of travel by a convicted pedophile. Each of the dozen 
officials said they would bar entry into their nation of such a 
predator.
   A primary way to fight child trafficking is to fight demand created 
by sex tourists, which is what International Megan's Law does. We know 
from other official data that registered sex offenders are traveling 
disproportionately to countries where children are trafficked for sex.
   A deeply-disturbing 2010 report by the Government Accountability 
Office entitled ``Current Situation Results in Thousands of Passports 
Issued to Registered Sex Offenders'' found that at least 4,500 U.S. 
passports were issued to registered sex offenders in fiscal year 2008 
alone.
   International Megan's Law seeks to protect children from sex tourism 
by notifying destination countries when convicted pedophiles plan to 
travel. And to protect American children, the bill encourages the 
President to use bilateral agreements and assistance to establish 
reciprocal notification--so that we will know when convicted child-sex 
offenders are coming here.
   It is a primary duty of government to protect the weakest and most 
vulnerable among us from harm, but it also falls to each of us to watch 
for those who need the help of government, NGOs, and the faith 
community.
   Combatting trafficking is everybody's business, and we heard from 
witnesses involved in the war against trafficking.

                          ____________________