[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 11433-11434]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE STATE DEPARTMENT 2013 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 11, 2013

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, the Subcommittee 
on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International 
Organizations held the second in a series of hearings on the 
Trafficking in Persons report and U.S. efforts to combat human 
trafficking. In April, the subcommittee took a close look at the 
records of 6 countries which had exhausted all of their allotted time 
on the Tier 2 Watch list and must, by law, be moved to Tier 2 or Tier 3 
in this year's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.
   As discussed by experts in the April 18 hearing, the trafficking 
records of China, Russia, and Uzbekistan were particularly worrisome. 
An upgrade to Tier 2 would have been completely unmerited and would 
have damaged the credibility of the TIP Report.
   The TIP report was released late last month, and I was pleased to 
see that it is one of the best yet--and that it faithfully reported and 
graded the records of China, Russia, and Uzbekistan, which had been 
skirting accountability for far too long. Now, the Administration is 
faced with next steps including what sanctions might be imposed to 
press these nations to reform.
   When I wrote the law--the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
2000--that created not only this report, but also the Office to Monitor 
and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. Department of State, and 
several other provisions to prevent both sex and labor trafficking, 
protect victims, and prosecute traffickers, it was hoped this report 
would become the international gold standard and primary means of anti-
trafficking accountability around the world. It has. From the halls of 
parliaments globally to police stations in remote corners of the world, 
this report is today being used to focus anti-trafficking work in 186 
countries.
   But with the power of this report to improve situations came the 
risk that it could also be used to whitewash the truth about a 
country's trafficking record--it could fail to report accurately and 
inadvertently give cover to negligent or complicit governments.
   I am happy to say that the 2013 report is one of the best ever 
produced. Special thanks are especially in order for Ambassador Luis 
CdeBaca and his dedicated staff for faithfully highlighting the good, 
while exposing the bad and the ugly. The TIP report is faithful in and 
reflects the hard, meticulous work and leadership of the Office to 
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This office not only 
analyzes whether a country is complying with the minimum standards for 
the elimination of human trafficking, but also sets specific 
recommendations for how a country can move forward.
   With this report, countries should have no question about where they 
rank, or how they can improve. Many countries have publically or 
privately credited the report as the impetus for real improvement in 
their trafficking laws and policies. Since the TIP report's inception, 
more than 130 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws, and many 
countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their 
tier rankings.
   This year, China, Russia, and Uzbekistan finally have to confront 
their records. The report tells it like it is. For instance, the TIP 
report states that: ``The Chinese government's birth limitation policy 
and a cultural preference for sons, create a skewed sex ratio of 118 
boys to 100 girls in China, which served as a key source of demand for 
the trafficking of foreign women as brides for Chinese men and forced 
prostitution. Women from Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Mongolia are 
transported to China after being recruited through marriage brokers or 
fraudulent employment offers, where they are subsequently subjected to 
forced prostitution or forced labor . . . Traffickers recruited girls 
and young women, often rural areas of China, using a combination of 
fraudulent job offers, imposition of large travel fees, and threats of 
physical or financial harm to obtain and maintain their service in 
prostitution.''
   Because tens of millions of girls have been systematically killed by 
sex selection abortion over the past three decades--resulting in an 
unprecedented number of ``missing'' women and girls--demand for 
prostitutes and so-called ``brides'' is exploding in China.
   As a direct consequence of the barbaric one child per couple policy 
in effect since 1979, China has become the global magnet for sex 
traffickers. Women and young girls have been and are today still being 
reduced to commodities and coerced into prostitution. Without serious 
and sustained action by Beijing, it is only going to get worse.
   The TIP Report also makes clear that ``Chinese law remains 
inadequate to combat all forms of trafficking . . . and the Government 
of China's efforts to protect trafficking victims remained inadequate . 
. .'' In addition, China's ``government continued to perpetuate human 
trafficking in at least 320 state-run institutions.''
   I, along with Congressman Frank Wolf, visited one of those state-run 
institutions in the early 1990's--Beijing Prison #1. We were shocked to 
observe the horrific conditions imposed on inmates including more than 
40 Tiananmen Square human rights activists. The report makes clear that 
state-sponsored forced labor is part of a systemic form of repression 
known as ``re-education through labor. The government reportedly 
profits from this forced labor, and many prisoners and detainees . . 
.''
   With this report, we have done right by the millions of trafficking 
victims in China. With this report, we are holding China to account for 
its complicity in profits off of modern-day slavery. It is my sincere 
hope that the truth will turn the tide in China.
   However, I was disappointed to see that Vietnam was not downgraded 
to the Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3. Vietnam's labor export companies--
most of which are owned by or affiliated with the Government of 
Vietnam--have been engaged in practices that lead to debt bondage and 
forced labor. The Government of Vietnam has yet to pay millions of 
dollars in damages to Vietnamese labor trafficking victims found in the 
United States and its territories, as ordered by U.S. courts.
   Vietnamese trafficking victims in other countries report that the 
Government of Vietnam sides with the traffickers to keep them in 
bondage when the victims seek help. Other reports indicate that the 
Vietnamese embassy in Russia is actively working with organized crime 
to enslave Vietnamese nationals in sweatshops and brothels, and the TIP 
report itself notes reports that officials at border crossings and 
checkpoints accept bribes from traffickers. Some notable trends in the 
2013 include: Tier 1: 30 countries (as compared with 33 in 2012); Tier 
2: 92 countries (as compared with 93 in 2012) Tier 2 Watch List: 44 
countries (as compared with 42 in 2012); Tier 3: 20 countries (as 
compared with 17 in 2012).
   The Africa region increased its prosecutions by 45% (labor 
prosecutions by 500%), its convictions by 16%, and its victim 
identification by 13%. Africa is the region with the greatest number of 
Tier 3 countries, and does not contain any Tier 1 countries.
   The East Asia and Pacific region saw a 23% decrease in prosecutions, 
but a 28% increase in convictions and a slight increase in the number 
of victims identified. The number of victims identified remains 
alarmingly low (8,521) in a region where the International Labor 
Organization believes there are nearly 12 million enslaved individuals. 
The number of labor convictions (103) also remains extremely low in the 
region of the world most plagued by labor trafficking.
   The Europe region saw a slight drop in prosecutions, but a 13% 
increase in convictions and a 17% increase in victims identified.

[[Page 11434]]

The European region identified the most victims out of all regions in 
2013.
   The Near East region saw a 19% increase in prosecutions in 2012, and 
more than doubled its conviction rate (largely due to efforts in the 
United Arab Emirates). The Near East region also more than doubled its 
number of victims identified. This region has the greatest relative 
proportion of Tier 3 countries.
   The South and Central Asia region saw slight, but appreciable 
increases in its prosecutions (7%), convictions (5%), and number of 
victims identified (13%). India, one of the first countries to be moved 
off of the Tier 2 Watch List under the TVPRA of 2008 two-year rule, 
maintained a questionable Tier 2 ranking for a second year. Out of 
nearly 2 billion people, only 4,415 victims were identified.
   The Western Hemisphere region, in which the United States is 
included, prosecutions increased by 72%, and convictions increased by 
44% (including a 650% increase in labor trafficking convictions). 
However, victim identification decreased by 15% (although there was a 
significant increase in the number of labor trafficking victims 
identified). Eight countries in this region improved their anti-
trafficking laws in 2012. Cuba is the only country in the region to be 
Tier 3. Colombia and Nicaragua share Tier 1 status with the United 
States and Canada.

                          ____________________