Cyber attacks from China have become a key point of contention between the United States and China. U.S. Rep. Smith, himself a victim of cyber attacks in 2006 and 2007 that were suspected of coming from China, is co-chair and highest House Member on the bipartisan, executive/congressional branch Commission on China, gave opening remarks at the hearing. The Commission took a hard look at Chinese cyber attacks on Chinese activists and human rights organizations, as well as American businesses and ... Read more

“Ethiopia After Meles: The Future of Democracy and Human Rights,” is the title of a hearing held today by Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-04) of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and Int’l Orgs. Testifying were Donald Y. Yamamoto, Acting Assistant Secretary of State; Earl Gast, Asst. Administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development; Dr. Berhanu Nega, Ph.D., of Bucknell University; Dr. J. Peter Pham, Ph.D., Director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center; Obang Me... Read more

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved $4.1 million for the Borough of Spring Lake to help fund the reconstruction of its boardwalk destroyed Superstorm Sandy, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), who represents the hard-hit disaster areas of Ocean and Monmouth counties. “Spring Lake, like its neighboring shore communities and their residents, are counting on FEMA assistance to stay sound financially,” said Smith. “Our towns have expended tremendous, unprecedented amounts of ... Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights, convened a hearing to examine the ongoing ethnic, political and religious persecution in Vietnam, as well as the government’s increasing use of confiscation of homes and land as a means to repress fundamental human rights. Testifying were: Anh “Joseph” Cao, former Member of U.S. Congress (only Vietnamese-American ever elected to Congress) Nguyen Dinh Thang, Ph.D., Executive Director, Boat People SOS The Ven... Read more

Today’s 24th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre was remembered at a congressional hearing about human rights abuse in China held by Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-04), head of the global human rights subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Today—and this week—the world remembers the dream that was and is the “Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989” and deeply honors the sacrifice endured by an extraordinarily brave group of pro-democracy Chinese women and men who dar... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) recently met with Girl Scout Troop 1701 of Middletown, N.J. to discuss its unique project and YouTube video promoting mammograms for the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. The five fifth-graders from Nut Swamp Elementary School, each of whom has been touched by someone in their life who has had breast cancer, discussed their recently launched campaign, “Do It for Your Daughter,” an initiative to urge moms to get mammograms. As part of the campaign, th... Read more

Ongoing terrorist attacks, reconciling ethnic groups and other challenges to finding how a lasting peace might be achieved in Mali and the rest of the Sahel region were the topics of a hearing held Tuesday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees Africa and human rights. Smith said United States foreign policy must address the challenges faced by the nations of Africa’s Sahel region, especially the spread of both terrorism and drug trafficking i... Read more

The quest for justice and freedom for Jacob Ostreicher, an American businessman imprisoned without formal charges for 20 months in Bolivia, continued at a hearing today where American actor and activist Sean Penn came before the human rights subcommittee chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a leading human rights advocate in Congress. “On June 4th, it will be two years since he was imprisoned. Bolivian officials are employing delay tactics and giving excuses for his continued detention th... Read more

The fight against one of the deadliest diseases in the world was the topic of a hearing held Friday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global health. The latest global estimates report about 219 million cases of malaria in 2010 and an estimated 660,000 deaths. An estimated 85 percent of the fatalities are children. Spread by infected mosquitos, most deaths occur among children living in Africa, where a child dies every minute from malaria.... Read more

Legislation on parental abduction of U.S. children overseas, human rights issues in Vietnam and the crisis in the Congo was passed at the first bill mark-up of the 113th Congress by the House panel that oversees human rights chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04). Three bills were approved in voice votes of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: H.R. 1951, the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act of ... Read more