Congressman Chris Smith kicked off the first session of the Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking this week for the 111th Congress, outlining past successes and offering a preview to future challenges. 

    As Co-Chairman and a Ranking Republican on the caucus, Smith briefed caucus members on the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which was signed into law in December. 

    “We must do more to protect those who are vulnerable both within our own borders and abroad,” Smith said. “The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act aims to do just that by updating, expanding, and improving the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. There have been lessons learned since the first law was enacted eight years ago and subsequently reauthorized in 2003 and 2005. They are incorporated into this law as we try to do an even better job in mitigating the suffering of the victims while simultaneously going after those who traffic and the countries that harbor traffickers, who are also part of the problem themselves.” 

    Now in its third year, the caucus is a bipartisan organization, with Smith (R-NJ) as the lead Republican, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY) as the lead Democratic. 

    Smith wrote the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, a landmark law and its numerous reinforcing provisions to prevent trafficking, to protect victims and to prosecute those who traffic. The law has been a model statute for other governments, which have adopted many of its provisions in whole or in part to combat human trafficking around the world.