Two bills authored by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) to step up the fight against modern day slavery were taken up by the House today.

    Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees global human rights and a longtime anti-human trafficking  advocate, Smith authored the landmark law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, Public Law 106-386). Today, two other Smith measures were debated by the House and unanimously passed in voice votes.  These measures will challenge modern day slavery in the U.S. and around the world and help more women and children escape the hideous crime of human trafficking which afflicts more than 20 million victims around the world.

    “I am pleased that the new 114th Congress has put a high priority on combatting human trafficking,” said Smith, co-chair and co-founder of the House Human Trafficking Caucus and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. “Millions of victims around the world, including here in the United States, endure immense suffering from the inhuman brutality of sex and labor trafficking. Many of the victims are young women and children whose lives are living nightmares.”

    The House passed HR 514, “Human Trafficking Prioritization Act” and HR 515 , “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking,” both sponsored by Smith, a senior member of the House  Foreign Affairs Committee.  HR 515 seeks to protect children from sexual predators seeking victims in other countries.

    “Protecting children from violence and predatory behavior are among the highest duties and responsibilities of government,” Smith said. “International Megan’s Law will protect children from child sex tourism by notifying destination countries when convicted pedophiles plan to travel.” Click here to read Smith’s floor remarks on HR 515.

    A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office entitled “Current Situation Results in Thousands of Passports Issued to Registered Sex Offenders” found that at least 4,500 U.S. passports were issued to registered sex offenders in fiscal year 2008 alone. HR 515, works to mitigate child sex tourism by enhancing notification to countries of destination concerning the travel plans of American convicted pedophiles. To protect American children, the bill also encourages the President of the United States to use bilateral agreements and assistance to establish reciprocal notification systems so that the U.S. will know when a convicted child-sex offender comes to the United States. Known as International Megan’s Law (HR 4573 in the last Congress), the bill establishes a model framework for reciprocal international law enforcement notifications when convicted child-sex offenders who pose a danger to children arrive in a destination country. 

    The bill is named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from Hamilton, N.J. in Smith’s district who was kidnapped, raped, and brutally murdered in 1994. Megan’s assailant was a convicted, repeat sex offender living across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood. Due to public outrage in response to the murder and to the hard work by Megan’s loving parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, the New Jersey State Legislature passed the original Megan’s Law (NJSA 2C: 7-1 through 7-II) to require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community. Today all 50 States and territories have a Megan's Law, an important tool in preventing more children from becoming victims.

    Smith first introduced the International Megan’s Law bill alongside the Megan’s parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka in 2008, and has worked for passage ever since. The bill passed the House in 2010, but the Senate failed to act on it. A new version of the bill passed in June. The Megan’s Law bill was passed out of committee and hotlined in the Senate, but the session ended before the bill could be adopted.  

    Smith’s other bill, HR 514, would raise the profile of U.S. anti-trafficking efforts by redesignating the State Department’s current “Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking’’ (created by Smith’s TVPA) as the ‘‘Bureau to Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP).’’ The bill also would require an Assistant Secretary to head the new bureau, in lieu of the current Ambassador-at-Large. The bill would also limit the amount of time countries the State Department keeps on its trafficking watchlist.

    “The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, HR 514, will help keep the fight against human trafficking from being lost in the politics of other U.S. interests,” Smith said. “HR 514 will raise the status of the J/TIP ‘office’ to that of a ‘bureau’—ensuring that the leadership of J/TIP is present and has an equal voice at meetings with the other bureaus and the Secretary of State. In addition, HR 514 stops countries from gaming the tier-ranking system by limiting the amount of time they can be on the Watch List the second time around.” Click here to read Smith’s floor remarks on HR 514.

    HR 514 will not increase the cost of government, he said.

    Smith said his original TVPA law was enacted Oct. 28, 2000 to launch domestic and international efforts to monitor and combat human trafficking. In addition to the original 2000 law Smith wrote two subsequent anti-trafficking laws (PL 108-193 and PL 109-164) increasing resources for crime prevention and victims. According to the International Labor Organization, as cited in the 2014 annual report issued by the U.S. State Department and mandated by Smith’s TVPA law, more than 20 million people worldwide are trafficking victims. Some anti-human trafficking non-governmental organizations (NGO), suggest that there are as many as 36 million victims.
 

    Progress has been made in combating adult human trafficking since enactment of the TVPA. Over the last 10 years, we have federally funded 42 Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces in cities across the U.S., 13 of which are currently federally funded.  These task forces coordinate local and federal law enforcement to rescue victims, refer them to appropriate rehabilitative services, and prosecute traffickers. These task forces have trained more than 85,000 law enforcement officers and others in how to identify human trafficking.  More than 3,600 American children have been rescued from sexual exploitation ranging from truck stop to Internet prostitution, as well as pornography through law enforcement prioritization and coordination.  More than 1,500 pimps, madams, and others who exploit children in prostitution have been convicted, many with lengthy sentences, including the life sentences made possible by the TVPA of 2000. 

    In Smith’s own Garden State, there have been 21 state level prosecutions.  In the past three years alone an estimated 125,000 victims have been identified and assisted worldwide. In New Jersey, 237 trafficking victims have been identified since 2005.

    The TIP report uses tier rankings set by the U.S. State Department to evaluate just how hard governments around the world are combating human trafficking. Good or bad, the record is published for the world to see. Its annual TIP Report rates more than 185 nations. Rep. Smith chaired a special hearing in April 2014 to evaluate the records of countries downgraded to the lowest tier in the 2013 report.

    Since the TIP Report’s inception, more than 120 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings—citing the TIP Report as a key factor in their increased anti-trafficking response.

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