lifesitenews
By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) told a House subcommittee on Wednesday that stronger efforts need to be made to curb the scourge of child sex-trafficking, which has gained new fuel through the internet. Such an effort must involve stronger laws, but also needs the full and voluntary cooperation of foreign governments, businesses, and private citizens, he said.
“Driven by demand and fueled by the ease and secrecy of the internet, we are facing a crisis of child exploitation in this nation,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking, told the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.
The New Jersey congressman, author of the Trafficking Victims and Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and other anti-human trafficking laws, said that today “the internet drives much of the domestic minor sex trafficking in the U.S.”
“The internet has opened a whole new front in the war with human trafficking - allowing demand to run free without practical obstacles,” continued Smith. “We must develop more effective safeguards and enforcement of existing laws to ensure that neither obscenity nor child pornography is protected speech, therefore we must stop the criminal misuse of the internet for human trafficking and child pornography.”
Smith recommended “common sense measures” be implemented: such as digitally tagging “adult” sections of websites, improving both screening – manual and electronic - and community flagging for web postings that could be advertising child victims of pornography or prostitution; telephone and credit card verification for all posts, so a website can block someone previously caught trying to exploit children; reporting hotlines; and strengthened dialogue and cooperation with law enforcement.
Both Smith and his colleague, Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, introduced new legislation in June that intends to respond aggressively to the crisis of sex trafficking of minors in the United States. The measure, the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010, H.R. 5575, now under consideration by Congress, would add $45 million to law enforcement and victim-assistance efforts. (see coverage)
The bipartisan bill was written in response to the 2009 National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, America’s Prostituted Children, conducted by Shared Hope International, which estimated that at least 100,000 U.S. children had become victims to sex-traffickers, and said the actual number could be much higher.
In July, the House passed The International Megan’s Law, authored by Smith, which now needs Senate action in order to become law. The bill would establish an international database of registered sex offenders and traffickers and create mandatory reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers and registered sex offenders against children who intend to travel overseas. (see background)
“To win the fight for our children we must wage war on the pimps and hold the johns accountable,” said Smith. He outlined some of the successes the Federal Bureau of Investigation has had in working with local law enforcement to arrest pimps and rescue child-victims in four Operation Cross Country raids. In 2009, the FBI managed to liberate “over one hundred child victims ranging in age from 5 to 17 years old, and caught 124 pimps.”
The Innocence Lost program, he added, also rescued approximately 900 children between June 2003 and October 2009.
Smith, however, stressed that government could not fix the problem of child sex trafficking on its own, but needed the voluntary cooperation of businesses and those in civil society. He pointed out that Craigslist finally blocked the “adult services section” on their website, ending the selling of young girls for sex, after it recognized that it did not have the resources to rigorously police its pages.
Smith also noted that American Airlines has “acted quickly and of its own volition to ensure that their flight crews were trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking and respond appropriately—saving lives.”
“Business and civil society are starting to the tremendous need. Domestic minor sex trafficking is too big of a problem to be left to the government alone,” concluded Smith. “In the words of Deborah Sigmund of Innocents at Risk, we must turn a million eyes on the problem, with each of us doing our part.”
Further items of interest:
The 2010 U.S. State Department on human trafficking in countries around the world can be viewed here.
Read previous coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
New Bill Introduced to Combat Child Sex-Trafficking within U.S.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10062413.html
Law Targeting International Sex Trafficking Moves Forward in U.S. House – Sponsored by Chris Smith
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10042810.html
‘She Has a Name’ Campaign Launched Against Pornography and Prostitution
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061601.html
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) told a House subcommittee on Wednesday that stronger efforts need to be made to curb the scourge of child sex-trafficking, which has gained new fuel through the internet. Such an effort must involve stronger laws, but also needs the full and voluntary cooperation of foreign governments, businesses, and private citizens, he said.
“Driven by demand and fueled by the ease and secrecy of the internet, we are facing a crisis of child exploitation in this nation,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking, told the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.
The New Jersey congressman, author of the Trafficking Victims and Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and other anti-human trafficking laws, said that today “the internet drives much of the domestic minor sex trafficking in the U.S.”
“The internet has opened a whole new front in the war with human trafficking - allowing demand to run free without practical obstacles,” continued Smith. “We must develop more effective safeguards and enforcement of existing laws to ensure that neither obscenity nor child pornography is protected speech, therefore we must stop the criminal misuse of the internet for human trafficking and child pornography.”
Smith recommended “common sense measures” be implemented: such as digitally tagging “adult” sections of websites, improving both screening – manual and electronic - and community flagging for web postings that could be advertising child victims of pornography or prostitution; telephone and credit card verification for all posts, so a website can block someone previously caught trying to exploit children; reporting hotlines; and strengthened dialogue and cooperation with law enforcement.
Both Smith and his colleague, Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, introduced new legislation in June that intends to respond aggressively to the crisis of sex trafficking of minors in the United States. The measure, the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010, H.R. 5575, now under consideration by Congress, would add $45 million to law enforcement and victim-assistance efforts. (see coverage)
The bipartisan bill was written in response to the 2009 National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, America’s Prostituted Children, conducted by Shared Hope International, which estimated that at least 100,000 U.S. children had become victims to sex-traffickers, and said the actual number could be much higher.
In July, the House passed The International Megan’s Law, authored by Smith, which now needs Senate action in order to become law. The bill would establish an international database of registered sex offenders and traffickers and create mandatory reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers and registered sex offenders against children who intend to travel overseas. (see background)
“To win the fight for our children we must wage war on the pimps and hold the johns accountable,” said Smith. He outlined some of the successes the Federal Bureau of Investigation has had in working with local law enforcement to arrest pimps and rescue child-victims in four Operation Cross Country raids. In 2009, the FBI managed to liberate “over one hundred child victims ranging in age from 5 to 17 years old, and caught 124 pimps.”
The Innocence Lost program, he added, also rescued approximately 900 children between June 2003 and October 2009.
Smith, however, stressed that government could not fix the problem of child sex trafficking on its own, but needed the voluntary cooperation of businesses and those in civil society. He pointed out that Craigslist finally blocked the “adult services section” on their website, ending the selling of young girls for sex, after it recognized that it did not have the resources to rigorously police its pages.
Smith also noted that American Airlines has “acted quickly and of its own volition to ensure that their flight crews were trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking and respond appropriately—saving lives.”
“Business and civil society are starting to the tremendous need. Domestic minor sex trafficking is too big of a problem to be left to the government alone,” concluded Smith. “In the words of Deborah Sigmund of Innocents at Risk, we must turn a million eyes on the problem, with each of us doing our part.”
Further items of interest:
The 2010 U.S. State Department on human trafficking in countries around the world can be viewed here.
Read previous coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
New Bill Introduced to Combat Child Sex-Trafficking within U.S.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10062413.html
Law Targeting International Sex Trafficking Moves Forward in U.S. House – Sponsored by Chris Smith
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10042810.html
‘She Has a Name’ Campaign Launched Against Pornography and Prostitution
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061601.html
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