Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees international human rights, and former left behind dad David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, N.J., who battled for five years to bring his son home from Brazil, took to the set of Fox News Channel to remind the country that there are more than 2,400 American children wrongfully held overseas. “International child abduction rips children from their homes and lives, taking them to a foreign land and alienating them ... Read more

On the eve of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and amid the current Chinese government crackdown on its own people, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), the chairman of the congressional panel that oversees international human rights, introduced legislation to deny the entry into the United States of certain members of the senior leadership of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and individuals who have committed human rights abuses in China. “The human rights situatio... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the House panel that oversees global human rights, held a bipartisan press conference today, June 1—officially Children’s Day in China—on the gender imbalance in China brought about by the government's brutally enforced one-child policy and its impact on trade and national security. Amnesty International, All Girls Allowed, and demographers from the American Enterprize Institute and Texas A&M University spoke of the alarming lack of girls in the young generat... Read more

The national epidemic and possible world disability pandemic of autism was the topic of a congressional hearing today before the House panel that oversees global health issues. Congressman Chris Smith, co-chair of the bipartisan House Coalition on Autism Research and Education (CARE) and chairman of the global health subcommittee on the Foreign Affairs Committee, held a hearing entitled “Global Perspectives on Autism - A Growing Public Health Crisis” featuring expert witnesses on autism and aut... Read more

From the May 27 edition of the Hill newspaper: It was fall 2008, and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) rushed from the week’s last votes to the airport. But unlike his colleagues, who were heading to their districts, Smith boarded a plane to Brazil to help David Goldman with what sounds like a simple task: to see his son Sean.... To read the entire article in The Hill newspaper, click here. To ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by count... Read more

Congressmen Chris Smith and Mike Doyle, the co-chairmen of the congressional caucus aimed at helping autistic individuals, today introduced a package of bills designed to reauthorize the nation’s landmark program for autism surveillance, research, education, awareness and intervention; to authorize new service programs; and to establish a national autism initiative. “These bills offer a comprehensive approach to tackling this epidemic,” said Smith, whose own state of New Jersey is believed to h... Read more

The Helsinki Commission leadership today welcomed the capture and arrest by Serbian authorities of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia with genocide and other war crimes associated with the 1992-95 conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Mladic has been at large since 1995. “Having been to Srebrenica and met the mothers of many of those killed in that genocide, I can only think of them today and hope that they find closu... Read more

Students from Hightstown High School in Mercer County, N.J. visited Washington, D.C. and met with their Member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) on May 25. The students, members of Hightstown teacher Stuart Wexler's AP government class, joined with Rep. Smith in a discussion of various federal issues before Congress and the federal government. Read more

The voices of heartbroken but hopeful ‘left behind parents’ longing to be reunited with their abducted children echoed in a congressional hearing today chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees international human rights. There are more than 2,400 American children held wrongfully overseas. “International child abduction rips children from their homes and lives, taking them to a foreign land and alienating them from a left behind parent w... Read more

“Labor Trafficking in Troubled Economic Times: Protecting American Jobs and Migrant Human Rights” was the title of a hearing held today by Helsinki Commission Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-04) that focused on illegal and unethical business practices that may favor migrant labor over domestic labor and contribute to human trafficking and forced labor. British actress Julia Ormond, a longtime advocate against trafficking, lent her voice to the cause, joining officials from the U.S. State Department and... Read more