Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chair of the House Congressional Human Trafficking Caucus, today spoke at the Capitol Hill premier of “I Am Jane Doe,” an anti-Human Trafficking documentary which chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school aged daughters, all victims of sex-trafficking facilitated by public webpages.
“Through a series of successful anti-trafficking laws, Congress has made perfectly clear that those who knowingly benefit financially from trafficking a child will be held accountable and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Smith, author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act and three successive U.S. laws to combat trafficking and protect the victims, who are primarily women and children.
“In their rulings, courts have regrettably misinterpreted the law regarding victims’ rights and the responsibility of internet websites even though the website became aware of, or helped with, pages designed to facilitate abuse of children. Let me make it clear—websites that ignore a minor in need are complicit in Human Trafficking.”
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a staggering 73% of all reports of child sex trafficking occur on just one website—backpage.com. The owners of this website have been accused of knowingly facilitating and promoting child sex trafficking. Recently they ‘pleaded the fifth’ before a Senate committee on investigations. “I Am Jane Doe” showed in gut-wrenching clarity what happens when websites put profit over principles.
“Congressional pressure has successfully shut two major outlets for online trafficking in the United States,” said Smith, who has held more than 20 hearings on Human Trafficking. “But the truth is they could reopen at any moment. This confusion in the courts—and perceived impunity by the websites—must end. The protections in the law are intended to apply to all trafficking victims—online or offline—and to hold accountable everyone who knowingly benefits from the victims’ suffering.”
Smith is already working on reauthorization of America’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which will expire in September of this year. The original TVPA launched a bold strategy that includes sheltering, political asylum, and other protections for the victims; long jail sentences and asset confiscation for the traffickers; and tough sanctions for governments that failed to meet minimum standards prescribed in the TVPA. The reauthorization will build on this foundation, adapting our trafficking strategy to new research and new ploys by traffickers.
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