U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, is convening a news conference with Congressional colleagues to officially receive recommendations for the reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from the African diplomatic corps. The news conference will be held: WHEN: Wed., July 31, at 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Room 2200 in the Rayburn House Office Building. The diplomatic corps report ... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) met with Georgian Court University students who are volunteers for RESULTS, an organization dedicated to ending poverty by enabling individuals and families around world to sustain themselves. They discussed various federal and international issues. Smith is the chairman of the House Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee. Georgian Court is located in Ocean County, N.J. in Smith's Fourth Congressional District. The ... Read more

BY CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH - President Obama must seriously and robustly defend the Vietnamese people in their heroic struggle against an ever-worsening dictatorship led by President Truong Tan Sang. Religious persecution, torture, incarceration of journalists and bloggers as well as other human rights abuses in Vietnam have gone from bad to worse — with 2013 on track to be one of the worst ever. Within the past four months alone — on April 11 and June 4 — I’ve chaired two more congressional hearin... Read more

For the first time ever, a U.S. Congressional panel held an African diplomatic meeting this week featuring African ambassadors discussing security issues. Chaired by Rep. Chris Smith, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations heard presentations from four African ambassadors on terrorism, drugs and international crime, piracy and other issues. Addressing the subcommittee July 24 were His Excellency Somduth Soborun, Ambassador of the... Read more

BY CARLOS AVILA - Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman on Thursday announced arrests of a Lakewood man and five more associates on charges of human trafficking for allegedly operating brothels in Lakewood in Ocean County that were part of a network of brothels in New Jersey. Lakewood is in Congressman Chris Smith’s district so this human trafficking arrest hits close to home, considering Smith’s longtime advocacy for trafficking victims. The law allowed federal human trafficking grants to cre... Read more

Malia Rulon Herman, Gannett Washington Bureau - Two New Jersey lawmakers who have long fought human trafficking said Thursday that in light of the massive prostitution ring uncovered in Lakewood, they would redouble efforts to call attention to the growing problem. Republican Sen. Jeff Chiesa, who has worked on human trafficking cases in his former job as the state’s attorney general, said he’s talking to both Democrats and Republicans about what more can be done legislatively to combat traffick... Read more

Six members of a human trafficking ring that moved Mexican women into the United States illegally and made them work as prostitutes, often after promising them jobs as housecleaners or baby sitters, have been arrested, state authorities said Thursday. Jose Romero-Flores, identified as the ringleader, operated three brothels in Lakewood with assistance from his girlfriend, Odulia Bedran Trejo, who helped him find women in Mexico and drove women and clients to and from the brothels, state prosecut... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA—Public Law 106-386) that, among its numerous provisions, helped create the New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force, praised the arrests announced today of brothel owners and their associates who allegedly lured women into coming to the United States illegally with promises of jobs as house cleaners or babysitters, only to trap them in a life of suffering and despair in “high volume” prostitutio... Read more

Africa has been blessed with abundant natural resources, but too seldom have these resources benefitted the average African citizen. A hearing on efforts to examine strategies to better ensure that African governments use revenues that come from natural resources for the benefit of their people was held Thursday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees Africa. The hearing, entitled “Is There an African Resource Curse?” featured NFL wide receiver... Read more

The U.S. State Department today testified on its new 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report before a hearing held by Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights. Ambassador-at-Large for Trafficking in Persons, Luis CdeBaca, the highest U.S. government official for trafficking issues, testified. Smith's landmark law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 mandated the annual report and created the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons which... Read more