Congressman Smith has chaired numerous hearings and is the prime sponsor of five major laws and 17 international resolutions aimed at combating the scourge of human trafficking in the United States and around the world.
To report human trafficking in New Jersey, anyone can contact the NJ Office of the Attorney General NJ Human Trafficking Task Force, launched via's Smith's trafficking laws, through its toll-free hotline (855) 363-6548 (855-END-NJHT) 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
To report human trafficking anywhere in the U.S., call the national human trafficking hotline, which also was created and maintained via Smith's laws, through its toll free hotline (888) 373-7888, or texting 233733, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
At any given time in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage.
There are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world.
1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.
Out of the 24.9 million people trapped in forced labor, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labor, accounting for 99 percent of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58 percent in other sectors
Congressional Hearings
January 15, 2020 The Trafficking Victims Protection Act at 20: A Look Back and a Look Ahead
Congressman Smith (center) and other congressional leaders from the House
and Senate, gather to see a bipartisan bill, "The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act,"
S. 178, is enrolled and passed by the House in May 2015.
Addressing the 2020 Voices of Trafficking 2020 Forum
Bipartisan House Press Conference on Ending Human Trafficking
Congressman Chris Smith with Katie Couric on Sex Trafficking and the Super Bowl
US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reports
As a part of Congressman Smith’s landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act the US Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons publishes an annual report on every country’s governmental human trafficking efforts and categorizes each country on three tiers based on their efforts to comply with “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”
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.
Tier 1
Countries whose governments fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Tier 2
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Tier 2 Watch List
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and for which:
a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing;
b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecution, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials; or
c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional steps over the next year.
Tier 3
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
The Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, headed by Ambassador John Cotton Richmond, leads the United States' global engagement against human trafficking, an umbrella term used to describe the activities involved when someone obtains or holds a person in compelled service.
The Blue Campaign is the unified voice for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to combat human trafficking. Working in collaboration with law enforcement, government, non-governmental and private organizations, the Blue Campaign strives to protect the basic right of freedom and to bring those who exploit human lives to justice.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year in more than 200 languages.
Call: 1-888-373-7888 | Text: HELP to BeFree (233733)
The State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force falls under the Office of the Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice and is committed to combating the crime of Human Trafficking through education collaboration and prosecution. Report Human Trafficking in NJ toll free 24/7 Hotline 855-END-NJHT (855-363-6548)
The mission of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP) is to educate on the scourge of human trafficking as an offense against fundamental dignity of the human person; to advocate for an end to modern day slavery; and to provide training and technical assistance on this issue. How To Identify a Human Trafficking Victim
Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization affiliated with the United Nations and recognized by the US Congress. It began as a network of airline employees using their pass privileges to help others and has expanded into a network of students, medical professionals, families and retirees who volunteer as “Ambassadors of Goodwill” in their home communities and abroad. It provides a way for members to share their unique skills and talents to care for others and bring compassion into action.
When an Airline Ambassador humanitarian team rescued an abandoned little girl in Cambodia in 2009, they also learned about the issue of human trafficking and determined to get involved. Inspired by the initiative of Innocents at Risk, they determined to discuss this on the next month’s mission to the Dominican Republic. Amazingly, they correctly identified trafficking incidents on two different airlines, leaving the Dominican Republic, (in one case leading to the bust of a human trafficking ring of 82 children) and on two more airlines the following month.
House passes sweeping overhaul of law to combat human trafficking
