U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, released the following statement regarding the success and positive impact of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released today for the fifth year. The report was mandated by Smith’s first trafficking bill, signed in October 2000 (Public Law 106-386): Read more

Seven years ago this month, the East African nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia began a devastating two-year conflict that cost the lives of as many as 100,000 soldiers and civilians. The war, which largely took place on Eritrean territory, displaced a third of that country’s population and caused massive destruction. The deprivation in both countries continues long after the war ended, and the suffering goes on. Read more

I want to thank my good friend from Iowa, Jim Leach, for co-chairing today’s joint hearing, and for his groundbreaking work in authoring the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. I was proud to work with him on that legislation, and I share his resolve to see that the new law results in real improvements in the lives of the men and women of North Korea. It is particularly fitting that we are meeting today, on the first anniversary of the North Korean Freedom Day rally that took place on the National Mall. Read more

The Subcommittee will come to order. I am pleased to convene this hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. Today we will be looking at the prospects for democracy in one of the most troubled countries on the African continent, Zimbabwe. Read more

The Subcommittee will come to order. I am pleased to convene this hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. Today we will be examining the important and highly relevant topic of reform of the United Nations’ human rights institutions. Read more

The Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations subcommittee will probe the question of whether the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) continues to promote and serve the purpose it was created to advance: respect for internationally recognized human rights and freedoms Read more

The Subcommittee will come to order. I am pleased to convene this hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. Today we will be discussing management initiatives in the Department of State budget. This will be the first in a series of hearings devoted to the preparation and enactment of a Foreign Relations Authorization bill for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, who is participating in a United Nations Human Rights conference in Geneva, made the following comments upon hearing the news of Terri Schiavo’s death today as a result of deliberate dehydration and starvation: Read more

The House of Representatives met in an extraordinary session on Sunday because a much-loved disabled woman in Florida has been ordered to die by starvation and dehydration. We met because Terri Schiavo's family, including her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, refuse to allow their precious daughter -- who is not in a coma or terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state -- to be killed by starving her to death. Read more

In a powerful statement to a House foreign affairs panel that oversees global human rights, Canadian Judge Peter Cory blasted the British government’s plan to push through new legislation before it complies with its commitments to investigate state-sponsored collusion as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. Read more