[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4173-4174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING: ACHIEVING ZERO TOLERANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 9, 2005

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak regarding U.S. 
efforts to combat human trafficking.
  The U.S. Government now estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 women, 
children and men are bought and sold across international borders each 
year and exploited through forced labor or commercial sex exploitation, 
and potentially millions more are trafficked internally within the 
borders of countries. Eighty percent of the victims are women and 
girls. An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign citizens are trafficked 
into the United States each year.
  As Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human 
Rights in the late 1990s, I led an effort to end the scourge of 
trafficking by sponsoring the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
(TVPA), P.L. 106-386, which was signed into law in December 2000. In 
2003, I sponsored a reauthorization of that Act which also became law.
  These two pieces of legislation created a comprehensive framework for 
combating trafficking in persons abroad, as well as the trafficking of 
foreign nationals into the United States. As a result, our government 
has been a leader in addressing this human rights violation and 
encouraging other governments to do the same. When I held the first 
hearing on trafficking, back in 1999, only a handful of countries had 
laws explicitly prohibiting the practice of human trafficking. 
Individuals who engaged in this exploitation did so without fear of 
legal repercussions. Victims of trafficking were treated as criminals 
and illegal immigrants--governments did not offer them assistance to 
escape the slavery-like conditions in which they were trapped, and few 
NGOs were equipped to offer survivors of trafficking the restorative 
care needed to heal physically, mentally and spiritually from the 
trauma they experienced. Little was being done to prevent others from 
being exploited in the same way.
  The situation today is remarkably improved. Since taking office, the 
Bush Administration has devoted more than $295 million to combat 
trafficking in more than 120 countries. Across the globe, governments 
are taking action to prevent trafficking, to prosecute the exploiters, 
and to give hope and restoration to those victimized by trafficking. As 
Ambassador Miller testified to Congress last summer, between 2003 and 
2004, twenty-four countries enacted new laws to combat trafficking. 
Dozens more were in the process of drafting or passing such laws. 
Moreover, nearly 8,000 traffickers were prosecuted worldwide and 2,800 
were convicted. Shelters have been set up for victims. NGOs and faith 
communities have reached out to help heal survivors of trafficking.
  In order to support the ongoing efforts that have made these gains 
possible, on February 17, I introduced, along with this Subcommittee's 
Ranking Member, Rep. Donald Payne, and eight other original co-
sponsors, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act

[[Page 4174]]

of 2005, H.R. 972. This bill would reauthorize appropriations for anti-
trafficking programs here and abroad. The bill also offers solutions to 
a number of specific scenarios in which trafficking is a problem, but 
which our experience has shown could benefit from additional 
initiatives. Our witnesses at today's hearing will focus on some of 
these issues and I will mention just a few here.
  For example, drawing lessons from the aftermath of war in the Balkans 
a decade ago, and the devastating tsunami in South Asia a mere few 
months ago, foreign policy and humanitarian aid professionals 
increasingly recognize the heightened vulnerability of indigenous 
populations in crisis situations to many forms of violence, including 
trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Traffickers also 
recognize this vulnerability. This bill would focus governmental 
efforts, particularly by the State Department, the U.S. Agency for 
International Development, and the Department of Defense, to develop 
trafficking prevention strategies for post-conflict and humanitarian 
emergency situations--strategies which do not currently exist in 
sufficient form.
  The bill would also take further steps to ensure that U.S. Government 
personnel and contractors are held accountable for involvement with 
acts of trafficking in persons while abroad on behalf of the U.S. 
Government. Although few would dispute that the involvement of U.S. 
personnel, including members of the U.S. Armed Forces, with trafficking 
in persons in any form is inconsistent with U.S. laws and policies and 
undermines the credibility and mission of U.S. Government programs in 
foreign countries, there remain loopholes in U.S. laws which allow such 
acts to go unpunished. This bill closes those loopholes by expanding 
U.S. criminal jurisdiction for serious offenses to all U.S. Government 
contractors abroad--jurisdiction which already exists with respect to 
contractors supporting Department of Defense missions abroad--and by 
making federal criminal laws against sex and labor trafficking 
applicable to members of the Armed Forces. The bill would also direct 
the Secretary of Defense to designate a director of anti-trafficking 
policies to guide DOD's efforts to faithfully implement policies 
against trafficking.
  The bill would take on the outrageous situation of peacekeepers, 
humanitarian aid workers, and international organizations' personnel, 
being complicit in trafficking and sexual exploitation. On March 2nd, I 
chaired a hearing in this Subcommittee that examined the evidence of 
gross sexual misconduct and exploitation of refugees and vulnerable 
people by U.N. peacekeepers and civilian personnel assigned to the U.N. 
peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights 
groups and the U.N.'s own internal investigations have U.N. covered 
over 150 allegations against Mission personnel involving sexual contact 
with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small 
sums of money, as well as allegations of rape, forced prostitution, and 
demands of sex for jobs. However, to date, there has not been one 
successful prosecution of U.N. civilian or military personnel, either 
in the Congo or elsewhere.
  The scandal with the U.N. Mission in the Congo is but the latest in a 
long list of allegations against international peacekeeping personnel 
involving sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation that 
extends back at least a decade. The involvement of peacekeepers in 
trafficking or sexual exploitation is not just a private matter 
involving only personal moral choices. Hundreds of vulnerable women and 
children are being re-victimized; the reputation of the United Nations 
is being badly damaged; and lack of internal discipline is compromising 
security and effectiveness of the peacekeeping operations.
  To his credit, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has promulgated a 
``zero tolerance'' policy on sexual exploitation by peacekeepers. In 
June 2004, NATO also adopted an anti-trafficking policy. But words 
alone do not protect women and children from abuse. H.R. 972 would 
require that the Secretary of State certify prior to endorsing an 
international peacekeeping mission that the international organization 
has taken measures to prevent and, as necessary, hold accountable 
peacekeepers in the mission who are involved with trafficking or sexual 
exploitation. The bill would also require that the annual Trafficking 
in Persons Report include information on steps taken by international 
organizations to eliminate involvement of the organizations' personnel 
in trafficking.
  The bill also continues to improve upon the provision of assistance 
to foreign victims in the United States by improving trafficking 
victims' access to information about federally funded victim services 
programs and facilitating access to counsel for victims. The bill would 
also establish a guardian ad litem program for child trafficking 
victims of trafficking.
  H.R. 972 also recognizes that trafficking in persons occurs within 
the borders of single countries, including the United States. According 
to the State Department, if the number of people trafficked internally 
within countries is added to the estimate, the total number of 
trafficking victims annually would be in the range of 2,000,000 to 
4,000,000. Although outside the jurisdiction of this subcommittee, I 
would just mention that the bill addresses the trafficking of American 
citizens and nationals within the United States--which the bill defines 
as ``domestic trafficking.'' Although there are no precise statistics 
on the numbers of United States citizens or nationals who have been 
victimized through trafficking, researchers at the University of 
Pennsylvania have estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 children in the 
United States are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation, including 
trafficking, at any given time.
  Despite the willingness of most governments today to address 
international trafficking, few have recognized the existence of 
internal trafficking within their own borders. By addressing internal 
trafficking in a bill that also addresses international trafficking, 
the United States will again lead by example in showing that internal 
trafficking victims must not be dismissed by the law enforcement 
community as prostitutes or juvenile delinquents. This bill would begin 
to shift the paradigm--much as we have done so successfully in the 
international arena--to view these exploited souls for what they really 
are--victims of crime and sexually exploited children.

                          ____________________