Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I chaired a briefing and
hearing of the House International Relations Committee to examine means
to enhance the global fight to end human trafficking.
When I held the first hearing on trafficking as chairman of the
Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights back in 1999, only a handful of countries had laws explicitly prohibiting the practice of human trafficking. Individuals who engaged in this exploitation did so without fear of legal repercussions. Victims of trafficking were treated as criminals and illegal immigrants, and had no access to assistance to escape the slavery-like conditions in which they were trapped. Few seemed to even be aware that this modern form of slavery was taking place, and those who did failed to recognize it as a violation of fundamental human rights.
However, the situation has changed markedly over the past 6 years. Significant credit for improvements must be attributed to the enactment of the trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, together with two reauthorizations of that Act in 2003 and 2005, all of which I sponsored. These three laws created a comprehensive framework for combating trafficking in persons abroad, as well as the trafficking of American girls and young women within the U.S. As a result of these three laws, our government has been a leader in addressing this serious human rights violation and encouraging other governments to do the same.
Just this past weekend, I experienced the impact of this leadership
during a trip to Iraq. Millions of people who lack job opportunities
are misled by ads for well-paying jobs and leave their countries for
what is presented to them to be the chance of a lifetime. Last year, the Chicago Tribune did a series of articles detailing a practice by employment brokers and subcontractors to bring laborers into Iraq through fraud or coercion. The seizure of the workers' passports and recruitment "fees" made it difficult for them to escape employment in a war zone. After the State Department trafficking report confirmed this practice, my Subcommittee held a hearing in which Colonel Robert Boyles testifIed that the military had issued an order that all contracts include a clause allowing termination without penalty, prohibits the use of unlicensed employment brokers, and ends the practice of confiscating worker passports.
With the compliance inspections set to begin this month, one of the
major objectives of my visit to Iraq was to ensure that the order on
labor trafficking would be enforced. Major General Bruce Moore, the
Chief of Staff for our military in Iraq, assured me that compliance was
being checked on this. As of the time of our subcommittee hearing, 90
percent of the contracts had been modified, and the military is
ensuring that the other 10 percent will be modified and that
implementation of the order will be complete.
Also on my trip this weekend, I spoke with State Department officials
about trafficking in Kuwait and Germany. According to reports earlier
this year, more than 40 Indian youth had been stranded in Kuwait when
their passports had been confiscated by unscrupulous job brokers and
had been penalized by Kuwaiti police. State Department officials told
me that they have launched an aggressive program entitled FALCON for
Fostering Awareness of Labor Conditions to let foreign workers know
their rights. In Germany, State Department officials described efforts
to discourage patronage of brothels during the World Cup earlier this
year in which women and girls were coerced into prostitution. Efforts
were especially concentrated on ensuring that the U.S. military did not
patronize such establishments. Since the end of the World Cup, the U.S. has continued to work with the German government to ensure that coerced prostitution is ended to the extent possible and facilities are established to help prostitutes who want to escape that life.
