Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of a house panel on global human rights, released the following statement on the possibility of a downgrade of Burma’s Trafficking Status:

     “Burma's downgrade, if true, is justified and long overdue—the government was warned for the past four years that such an action was possible.  Something must be done when government officials and military leaders are complicit in forced labor, recruiting child soldiers, and pushing the Rohingya into the hands of the traffickers. If true, this decision is a triumph of facts over politics—and the same criteria should be used for countries like Malaysia, China, Oman, Uzbekistan and other governments whose deplorable trafficking records were whitewashed last year. The scourge of modern slavery must end, the first step is getting right the State Department rankings.”  

     Smith is the author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which created the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department and mandates the annual Trafficking in Persons report. 

     He has chaired 18 hearings on trafficking, the most recent titled “Get It Right This Time: A Victims-Centered Trafficking in Persons Report.”

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