A World War II U.S. Army veteran who was captured in France and marched to Germany to be held prisoner for two months until liberated by American forces was presented with the Prisoner of War Medal today by Congressman Chris Smith. Alan Hayden was only 18 when he was captured in an intense artillery exchange between U.S. and German forces in the Alsace Lorraine on Feb. 22, 1945. His close Army buddy was shot by a German soldier during the march to Germany. He and other soldiers were sparsely fed... Read more

The following news report is from ABC News: Yeqing Ji from Shanghai, China, will most likely not be able to have children after she said two forced abortions physically impaired her uterus. The story of Ji and others who say they sufferered from abuses were shared at three separate congressional hearings this week about human rights in China, including one hearing regarding a new bill to prohibit entrance to the U.S. of human rights offenders from China. If passed and enforced, such a law could ... Read more

"This year’s tenth annual human rights report by the Congressional-Executive Commission continues to be the most comprehensive, heavily documented review and analysis of China’s worsening human rights record. "The Report’s 225 pages of analysis and recommendations followed by another 119 pages of meticulously researched endnotes paints an extremely dire, frightening picture of escalating—human rights crimes, including torture, forced abortion, religious persecution, and ethnic discrimination—com... Read more

Why were hotel giants Hilton, Starwood, Marriott and Carlson mentioned on Capitol Hill Thursday during a hearing on global human trafficking? In a hearing that Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) called to examine findings in this year's Trafficking in Persons report, he noted that "American chain hotels in China as well as in Mexico have been locations of sex trafficking." Police raided a five-star Hilton in China last year and found prostitution and other criminal activity in the hotel's independently o... Read more

The nexus between transnational organized crime and human trafficking was examined by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (The Helsinki Commission) at a hearing chaired by Congressman Chris Smith today. "We know that human trafficking—modern day slavery—is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world,” said Smith. “According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) human traffickers make profits in excess of $31 billion a year. So it is not surprising that more a... Read more

The long history of violence and humanitarian crises in Zimbabwe and U.S. policy toward the troubled country were the focus of a congressional hearing Wednesday held by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees international human rights and African issues. “There is serious contention within the ruling party for the right to succeed President Mugabe once he leaves office, and added to the division within the opposition, politics in Zimbabwe is in f... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) testified today before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement about his legislation, H.R. 2121, to deny senior Chinese leadership entry into the United States, as well as entry by individuals who have committed human rights abuses. “We are holding China to universal standards that apply to all states and that China itself claims to uphold,” said Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the chairman of the House p... Read more

The following text and video is from WABC New York Channel 7 about Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County, NJ. (WABC) -- They're a group of 46 security guards charged with protecting one of the most sensitive military installations in the area, the Earle Weapons Naval Station in Monmouth County. Not only did a federal contractor default on their pay, but the federal government recouped the money but then sat on hundreds of thousands owed to the workers. Click here to watch the video. Rou... Read more

The unknown condition of Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights lawyer being oppressed by the Chinese government, was the topic of an emergency hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China this afternoon. “As we sit here in this room today, free to meet, free to move, and free to speak our minds, we are convening to examine the plight of an extraordinarily brave man, and his equally courageous wife, who in every sense of the word is not free and at grave risk,” said Commission Chair... Read more

The Obama Administration’s decision to grant China a political waiver and India an upgrade in this year’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued by the State Department were questioned by the lawmaker who wrote the first-ever U.S. law to combat trafficking in 2000—the same law which also created the annual report and its ranking system (Public Law 106-386). A hearing held by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) as we... Read more