The House International Relations Committee today passed a $15 billion  AIDS bill that contains a key amendment authored by Vice Chairman Chris Smith that would bar any of the money in the bill from going to organizations that do not have policies opposing sex trafficking and prostitution.

    Smith, who wrote the nation’s first comprehensive law to address human trafficking and the sex slave industry, hailed the amendment as a win for human rights.

    “My amendment approved today addresses two of the most heinous practices known to human kind – human sex trafficking and prostitution, both of which severely degrade and exploit women,” Smith said.

    “It would simply be wrong for the United States to fund, and thus serve as an enabler for traffickers and pimps, by providing money to combat AIDS to organizations who believe in the misguided approach that legalized prostitution and ‘safe sex’ are ways of fighting sex trafficking. 

    “My amendment, which the committee approved, is simple.  It states that no funds made available under the AIDS Bill may be used to provide assistance to any group that does not have an explicit policy against prostitution and sex trafficking,” Smith added.

    “Passage of this amendment makes it clear that the United States is unequivocally opposed to human trafficking and sex trafficking.”