Committee Hearing Opening Statements
President of Helsinki Commission Names Rep. Smith to Human Trafficking Post
U.S. Rep. Smith has been re-appointed by the President of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also called the Helsinki Commission, as the OSCE’s Special Representative on Human Trafficking.
Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) has been re-appointed by the President of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), also called the Helsinki Commission, as the OSCE’s Special Representative on Human Trafficking.
In a letter dated Friday, July 10, President João Soares expressed gratitude for Smith’s efforts to stem what has been called modern-day slavery. Smith said the OSCE is essentially the civilian equivalent of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “I would like to thank you for your work in previous years as Special Representative on Human Trafficking,” Soares said in the letter. “Due to your efforts, our work in this field has been more focused, and this has been placed very prominently on the agenda of the OSCE and our Assembly. I am pleased to hear that you are willing to reassume this position, and I am therefore happy to appoint you to serve as my Special Representative on Human Trafficking during my mandate as President.” Soares asked Smith to continue work to collect information on human trafficking in the OSCE region, foster dialogue within the membership of the OSCE as to ways to combat human trafficking and advise OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly on how to implement its agreed anti-trafficking policies and to consider how to protect victims and how to combat the criminal elements involved. Smith responded to Soares appointment with enthusiasm. “I appreciate President Soares’ confidence in me to continue to be part of the fight against the global scourge on civilized nations,” Smith said. “We must redouble our prevention, protection and prosecution efforts to eradicate this modern day slavery. We must leave no stone unturned to rescue the victims from the cruelty of trafficking, bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice and bring the horror of the trafficking of human beings to an end.” According to international labor organizations, an estimated 12 million people, are victims of trafficking, with about 1.5 million—mostly women and children—of those linked to commercial sex trafficking, ending up in places all around the world, including the United States. Smith is the author of the Trafficking Victims and Protection Act of 2000. In addition to the original 2000 law, which provided for annual reports by the U.S. State Department on the state of human trafficking in 175 countries to comprehensively detail the progress or lack of progress that countries have made in combating trafficking. Smith wrote two subsequent anti-trafficking laws (PL 108-193 and PL 109-164) increasing resources for crime prevention, prosecution and expanding treatment assistance for victims. The 2009 human trafficking report by the State Department shows that there have been over 19,700 convictions worldwide and that over 100 countries now have anti-trafficking laws patterned after Smith’s law—where they previously had little or no protections. Provisions of Smith’s groundbreaking law are laid out on pages 314-315 of the report. Click here to view the full 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report. ### |