[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 88 (Monday, May 22, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E693-E694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STRONG SUPPORT FOR BILLS TO PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND TO 
               ENSURE JUSTICE FOR TRAFFICKERS AND ABUSERS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 22, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to 
offer my strong support for all six bills under consideration tonight 
to prevent children from suffering the horrors of sexual exploitation 
and ensure justice for traffickers and abusers.
  I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to Majority Leader Kevin 
McCarthy for his consistent work to fight human trafficking and other 
forms of sexual exploitation of children.
  As the prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection 
Act of 2000 and of its 2003 and 2005 reauthorization, I know the heavy 
lift such bills can be--and also their critical importance. The 
Majority Leader's personal commitment to tonight's legislation, as well 
as to moving other anti-trafficking bills over the next few weeks, 
builds upon the work he has done in previous congresses to effectively 
help the victims of trafficking who are primarily women and children.
  Sexual exploitation of children is a human rights violation that 
results in serious, lifelong consequences for the physical, 
psychological, and spiritual development and well-being of a child In 
many instances, it is a form of human trafficking.
  According to the International Labor Organization, almost 2 million 
children are still victimized every year by commercial sexual 
exploitation, which includes the use of girls and boys in sexual 
activities remunerated in cash or in kind, child sex tourism, the use 
of children in sex shows (public or private), and the production, 
promotion and distribution of pornography involving children.
  Millions of other children suffer the honor and wounding of other 
forms of sexual abuse; most do not come forward out of misplaced shame, 
or the fear that the justice system will re-traumatize and then fail 
them.
  The Strengthening Children's Safety Act of 2017, H.R. 1842, seeks to 
strengthen our efforts against repeat child sex offenders and ensure 
they are subjected to increased penalties. As drafted, the bill will 
crack down on sex offenders who fail to register and then commit 
violent crimes under state law. It will also ensure that an offender's 
prior child-related sex offenses under Uniform Code of Military Justice 
are taken into account in subsequent prosecutions.
  The Targeting Child Predators Act of 2017 (H.R. 883) also seeks to 
improve accountability for suspected crimes against children by 
ensuring that offenders are not tipped-off to law enforcement 
investigations of their IP addresses before law enforcement has a 
chance to gather the critical digital evidence of crimes against 
children.
  The Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 1188) ensures 
continued finding for the original Adam Walsh Act with important 
updates. The original Adam Walsh Act created a national registry of sex 
offenders and the means to enforce registration. While each state has 
its own registry, the national registry provides an efficient way to 
track sex offenders who move between states, and helps to systematize 
standards across states.
  The Child Protection Improvement Act of 2017 (H.R. 695), ensures that 
organizations serving youth have access to the national sex offender 
registry--so that they are not limited to background checks within 
their state. This ensures that children are protected from sex 
offenders whether or not the offender has followed the law and 
registered in their state.
  Last year, I applied this concept worldwide with the International 
Megan's Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes 
Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders (P.L. 114-
119), so that countries are warned when individuals on a U.S. sex 
offender list for a crime against a child is traveling to their 
country. Since my bill became law, more than 2,000 notifications of 
pedophile travel have been sent to 64 countries, with a particular 
emphasis on countries known to be primary destinations for child sex 
tourism.
  One of the other bills under consideration tonight, the Global Child 
Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 1862), will make it easier to prosecute 
known offenders and others who abuse children abroad by expanding the 
definition of the term ``illicit sexual contact'' to cover any sexual 
contact with a child.
  The TARGET Act (H.R. 1625), encourages accountability for 
international traffickers by allowing the State Department to provide 
rewards to people who are willing to bring down international criminal 
organizations trafficking in women and children. I am a cosponsor of HR 
1625 and pleased to see it and all the aforementioned legislation 
advance tonight.
  In addition to the legislation we adopt tonight, Mr. Speaker, many of 
my colleagues may know that a strong bipartisan coalition is also 
working on the comprehensive reauthorization of America's leading anti-
trafficking legislation--The Trafficking Victims Protection Act(TVPA). 
This additional legislation, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims 
Prevention and Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 2200), honors the 200th 
birthday of slavery survivor and great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, 
and will reauthorize $130 million in current funds across several 
federal programs dedicated to fight human trafficking over the next 
four years.
  I am pleased to be the prime author of the Frederick Douglass 
Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act with lead Democrat 
cosponsor Rep. Karen Bass along with a strong

[[Page E694]]

bipartisan group including Chairman Ed Royce, Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, 
Susan Brooks, Lois Frankel, Ann Wagner, Tony Cardenas, Ted Poe, and 
Ryan Costello.
  H.R. 2200 is also endorsed by a broad-based coalition of NGOs that 
work on the frontlines in the battle against human trafficking 
including.
  Mr. Speaker, for the past 17 years, we have seen progress on a number 
of anti-trafficking fronts: more than 250,000 victims have been rescued 
worldwide; the Department of Justice has federally funded some 42 anti-
human trafficking task forces across the United States and more than 
85,000 law enforcement officers have been trained. Additionally, over 
300 laws around the world, influenced by American leadership, have 
enacted to combat trafficking.
  We look forward to building upon this record through passage of The 
Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention, Protection, and 
Reauthorization Act. Some of the important provisions of H.R. 2200 
include:
  Ensuring vulnerable children and other at-risk populations are 
educated to avoid traffickers;
  Focusing grants for survivor care on housing for vulnerable groups;
  Preferring in government travel contracts airlines and hotels that 
have in place anti-trafficking training and victim reporting policies 
for their employees;
  Creating a special complaint mechanism in embassies whereby the U.S. 
is warned of traffickers exploiting the U.S. entry system;
  Increasing transparency and oversight of U.S. government grants to 
fight trafficking;
  Facilitating trafficking-free supply chains in private business by 
clarifying in Department of Labor reports the products that incorporate 
slavery-made goods;
  Encouraging enforcement of the Tariff Act of 1930's prohibition on 
the importation of goods made with forced labor;
  Strengthening federal efforts to reduce demand for services from 
trafficking victims by increasing prosecution of those who purchase 
services;
  Designating one prosecutor in each of the Department of Justice's 
focus districts to investigate and prosecute labor trafficking cases;
  Preventing abuse of domestic servants in embassies and diplomatic 
homes in the U.S.;
  Encouraging credible and effective use of the trafficking tier 
ranking system by the U.S. Department of State in the annual 
Trafficking in Persons Report;
  Educating procurement officers in U.S. government agencies to apply 
all U.S. law and regulations preventing purchases of goods made with 
trafficking or services from contractors who participate in human 
trafficking;
  Ensuring that U.S. military assistance does not go to foreign 
governments that use child soldiers; and
  Encouraging USAID to integrate human trafficking prevention into 
disaster relief.

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