U.S. Rep Chris Smith arrived here Thursday launching a four-day human rights mission that will focus on combating human trafficking, child soldiers and sexual violence while at the same time underscoring US commitment to critical peace negotiations due to convene on January 7, 2008. Read more

Legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to expand Holocaust education and preserve the culture of Polish Jewry overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives today. Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today released the following statement on the settlement between Yahoo! and the families of pro-democracy activists who have been jailed by the Chinese Government after Yahoo! turned over information on them: Read more

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and good morning to everybody. Mr. Chairman, thank you for having the commitment to truth and the integrity of this Committee to call this hearing today. I take a great personal interest in it. It was in large measure a response to Yahoo!s cooperation with the Chinese infamous secret police hunt for democracy advocate Shi Tao that I called the hearing in February of 2006 on “The Internet in China.” For the benefit of those who weren’t at the February 2006 hearing, we swor... Read more

As Yahoo! executives came before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to clarify testimony about its role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) called on the executives to settle court cases with families of pro-democracy activists who have been jailed by the Chinese Government after Yahoo! turned over information on them. Read more

As the House Foreign Affairs Committee seeks answers from Yahoo about its role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist, Congress took a major step forward today in preventing U.S. technology companies from aiding regimes who restrict access to the Internet when the Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that would criminalize such activities. Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of the nation’s first anti-trafficking law and its two subsequent reauthorizations, today called the House Foreign Affairs Committee passage of the 2007 reauthorization of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386) “another step forward in our commitment to end this appalling form of modern-day slavery.” Read more

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Africa, Global Health and International Operations Subcommittee, today delivered the following remarks at a "Newsmakers" event at that National Press Club: Human rights in Ethiopia is not a burning question in Washington today. It ought to be. We don’t read, or hear, or talk much about it. That has to change, and I believe most of us here today know that. That’s why we’re here. I got involved in Ethiopian human rights iss... Read more

In September 2000, I had the privilege to chair a hearing on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. It was a four-hour hearing, the first hearing this House ever held on the Armenian Genocide. The testimony I heard that day, and accounts of the atrocities I have read in the articles and books over the years, shocked me deeply. The existence of a campaign of genocide denial also shocked me deeply. Read more

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. First of all, let me thank Congressman King for offering this very important resolution, and my good friend and colleague, Chairman Lantos, for bringing this to the floor, as well as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who serves very admirably as the ranking member. This is a very important and very timely resolution. Chairman Lantos has been speaking out on behalf of Burma and human rights in Burma for years, and this today is another expression of our collective bipartisan support f... Read more