[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 3, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  WINNING THE FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING: THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS 
       TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PREVENTION AND PROTECTION ACT OF 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 3, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the subcommittee I 
chair held a hearing on accelerating the fight against human 
trafficking with particular focus on the new Frederick Douglass 
Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act of 2017--the 
comprehensive, bipartisan legislation that my friend and colleague 
Karen Bass and I introduced last Thursday joined by Chairman Royce, 
Representatives Jackson Lee, Brooks, Frankel, Wagner, Cardenas, Poe, 
and Costello.
   In the fight to end modern day slavery, and as the author of the 
landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the new bill 
honors the extraordinary legacy of one of the greatest Americans who 
ever lived.
   Born a slave in 1818--we look forward to celebrating the 200th 
anniversary of his birth next year--Frederick Douglass escaped slavery 
when he was 20 and dedicated his entire life to abolishing slavery and, 
after emancipation, to ending Jim Crow laws while struggling for full 
equality for African American citizens. A gifted orator, author, 
editor, statesman (and Republican), he died in 1895.
   The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection 
Reauthorization Act authorizes $130 million over 4 years to prevent 
human trafficking, protect victims, and beef up prosecution at home and 
abroad. Among other things, I note that this bill encourages more 
hotels at home and abroad to put policies and trainings in place so 
that the hotels are less likely to be used by human traffickers to 
exploit children. To the extent practicable, the U.S. Government will 
direct U.S. Government travelers using taxpayer money to use hotels 
that have taken affirmative steps to end trafficking within their 
walls.
   The new bill seeks to restore the credibility of the Trafficking in 
Persons Report, produced annually by the Department of State, to hold 
countries accountable for progress, or the lack thereof, in the fight 
against human trafficking. Talk is cheap--we insist on sustainable 
action.
   This report scrutinizes more than 190 countries--with the credible 
threat of serious sanction for egregious violators branded Tier 3--to 
improve their trafficking laws and actions.
   But in several notable cases, particularly in 2015, countries that 
should have been held accountable by the last administration with Tier 
3 designations were given a pass--countries such as Malaysia, Cuba, 
China, Oman, Uzbekistan, and others. The new bill tries to ensure that 
countries complicit in trafficking are held accountable. No politics. 
Ever. And it will remove from current law the presumption that 
countries failing to quantify convictions and identify victims somehow 
deserve passing grades.
   IJM's Policy Director Tim Gehring underscored that concern in his 
testimony today stating, ``The politicization of the tier rankings, 
against the advice of the anti-trafficking experts at TIP Office is to 
the detriment of the annual report, the U.S. Government's leadership on 
combatting this human rights abuse, and, ultimately, to the people 
exploited in the countries which receive an undeserved higher 
ranking.''
   Last year alone, I chaired two hearings on this: ``Accountability 
Over Politics: Scrutinizing the Trafficking in Persons Report'' in July 
and earlier in March, ``Get it Right This Time: A Victims-Centered 
Trafficking in Persons Report.''
   I was profoundly disappointed that the Obama Administration chose to 
politicize tier rankings rather than speak the truth to power. If the 
Trump Administration follows that dangerous precedent I will be no less 
a critic.
   The Frederick Douglass Act will limit the amount of time a country 
can stay on the warning, Tier 2 Watch List, inspiring countries to take 
action against trafficking today, not in four years when their warnings 
are up.
   The Act will also ensure that countries still using child soldiers, 
such as Afghanistan, where boys are on the front lines fighting the 
Taliban by day and being used as sex slaves at night, stop this obscene 
practice before being allowed to partner with the U.S. military--
something Green Beret Sergeant First Class Charles Martland tried to do 
at great personal cost.
   The Act will also ensure that waivers for countries using child 
soldiers are not abused. In 2016, only three of 10 countries designated 
as using child soldiers were not allowed to access funds, and these 
were the countries we did not fund anyway. The Act will ensure that the 
waiver is used only in cases where the President can ensure steps are 
being taken to address the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
   In addition, the Act will help keep goods made by child trafficking 
victims out of the United States by ensuring continued funding for and 
enhancing the specificity of Department of Labor reports on slave-made 
goods.
   Provisions in the Act will prevent the abuse of domestic servants in 
embassies and diplomatic homes in the United States. Diplomats and 
their families in the U.S. are getting off scot-free after trafficking 
domestic servants in their homes--we are going to change that. 
Trafficking is illegal here, no matter who you are.
   The Act encourages accountability for U.S. Government funds going 
abroad to help trafficking victims, and strengthens implementation of 
U.S. laws and regulations to prevent government purchases from putting 
money in the hands of traffickers.
   We welcomed several of the top anti-human trafficking organizations 
who have endorsed the legislation, including ATEST, the U.S. Conference 
of Catholic Bishops, which submitted testimony for the record, and 
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, whose work educating children 
about the threat of trafficking has inspired this legislation.

                          ____________________