“According to the International Labor Organization, human trafficking in the private economy generates $150 billion in illegal profits per year.  Sixteen million people are exploited in labor trafficking, 4.8 million people are exploited in sex trafficking, and four million are exploited in state-imposed trafficking,” Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) stated at a briefing on human trafficking in travel and tourism on Monday, hosted by the Helsinki Commission and the Congressional Human Trafficking Caucus.

Smith noted that 99 percent of all trafficking victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58 percent of victims of labor trafficking, are women. In fighting trafficking, “government has a leading role to play,” Smith said, “but private business is on the front lines. They are the eyes and ears that, if tuned to cries for help of a trafficking victim, can save lives.” (Click here to read Rep. Smith’s full statement)

Smith, co-chair of the Helsinki Commission, chaired the briefing where officials from the U.S. government, the corporations Uber and Airbnb, Airline Ambassadors International and the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and the anti-child trafficking policy organization ECPAT-USA all testified about successful efforts to fight human trafficking in the travel and tourism industries, and on work that remains to be done to fight trafficking in those industries. (Click here to watch a live stream of the briefing)

Employee training for hotel workers is effective and has resulted in the rescue of trafficking victims because of informed workers, Carol Smolenski, executive director of ECPAT-USA, stated.

“Spreading the word to hotel associates is crucial. In 2016, ECPAT-USA partnered with Marriott to expand online human trafficking training for their associates,” Smolenski said. “Marriott-branded hotels trained over 335,000 associates within 15 months of requiring the training. Imagine if all US hotel brands required training.”

Nick Shapiro, Global Head of Trust and Risk Management at Airbnb, testified about the strategy of Airbnb to prevent trafficking in rental lodging before it begins through measures like background checks and working with law enforcement. While the organizations actions have resulted in trafficking prosecutions, they have also prevented trafficking.

“You can’t arrest your way out of the problem,” Shapiro said, “you need to change behavior.”

Smith is the author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (PL 106-386), which provides support and legal protections for victims of trafficking while imposing long jail sentences and asset confiscation for traffickers, as well as tough sanctions for governments that do not meet the minimum standards for fighting trafficking.

Recently, on April 19, the actress Allison Mack of the TV series “Smallville” and others were indicted in a notorious New York sex trafficking case; their indictments cited provisions of Smith’s law on all three counts of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Smith noted that “every three to five years, we build on the original TVPA of 2000, and 2018 is just such a year” as his Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act (H.R. 2200), is pending in the Senate after passing the House last July.

“It contains two sections directly relevant to trafficking in the travel industry,” Smith stated; the sections tie government contracts with airlines and business with hotels to whether or not they have provided anti-trafficking training for employees.