Chris Smith

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 98) expressing the grave concern of Congress regarding the recent passage of the anti- secession law by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), a distinguished member of the Committee on International Relations, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, and cochair of the House Taiwan Caucus.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to thank the committee members and the staff, especially Dennis Halpin, Sarah Tillemann and Peter Yeo, for their work on this resolution and Dan Freeman, who is our counsel and parliamentarian, for his work, and his expertise on this and so many other resolutions. We are so grateful for them.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 18, the concurrent resolution just considered.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 18) expressing the grave concern of Congress regarding the continuing gross violations of human rights and civil liberties of the Syrian and Lebanese people by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the leadership for bringing up this resolution. H. Con. Res. 18, Mr. Speaker, addresses the continued gross violations of human rights committed by the Syrian regime. The terrorist regime in Damascus is one that not only supports and facilitates terrorist attacks against innocent civilians throughout the world but also engages in a widespread campaign of terror and human rights suppression among its own people. According to the most recent State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the government of Syria continues to commit numerous serious abuses and remains with a poor record on human rights overall. Any activity by human rights activists and organizations is stifled and activists are sentenced to lengthy prison terms, tortured or even forced into exile, only to be harassed and intimidated in exile as well. Domestic human rights groups cannot exist legally. According to a recent world report by Human Rights Watch, the dictatorship of Syria strictly limits freedom of expression, association and assembly and treats ethnic minority Kurds as second-class citizens. The government has a long record of arbitrary arrests, systematic torture, prolonged detention of suspects and grossly unfair trials. Women face discrimination and have little means for full redress when they become victims of rape or domestic violence. However, Syria's deplorable human rights record is not limited to its immediate borders. The repressive apparatus also extends into neighboring Lebanon, which has been a captive nation for 25 years. Hundreds of free-thinking Lebanese civilians are believed to have been killed or disappeared because of Syrian occupation forces throughout these years. U.S. policy must support the Syrian people. It must support its dissidents, human rights activists, and the pro-democracy advocates so that they, too, can free themselves from the shackles of tyrannical rule. This resolution also addresses, Mr. Speaker, two overarching vital U.S. national security requirements regarding the Syrian regime; that is, that Syria must immediately and unconditionally cease its support for terrorism and its development of unconventional weapons and advanced missile capabilities. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this important resolution to express U.S. support for those in Syria and Lebanon who continue to toil for freedom and democracy, and ensure the regime in Damascus that we will continue to increase the pressure until these goals are met. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, we have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, for the last two decades, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has shockingly defended the coercive Chinese population control program. By refusing to give American tax dollars to the UNFPA, the United States stands solidly with the victims and against the oppressors. We must continue to do so as long as UNFPA insists on supporting the Chinese program. Today, Representative Maloney offered an amendment to H.R. 1268, the ``Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief'', and she described the amendment as something that would give $3 million to UNFPA. Even though she explained it as a UNFPA Amendment, I want to clarify that the language of the amendment could in no way be construed to support or give funding to UNFPA. In fact, the amendment does not even mention UNFPA. The Maloney amendment says, In chapter 1 of title II of the bill, in the item relating to the ``Economic Support Fund'', after the first dollar amount, insert ``(reduced by $3,000,000)''. In chapter 1 of title IV of the bill, in the item relating to the ``Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction fund'', after the first dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $3,000,000)''. Since the Maloney amendment simply transferred $3 million from one account to another, thereby providing aid funding without funding UNFPA, I did not oppose the amendment. Victims of the Chinese one-child-per-couple policy have told me horrific stories. At one religious freedom meeting in China I asked what the participants knew about forced abortion policies. All three women in the group broke down in tears as they shared with me how they all had been forced to have abortions--one woman talked about how she thought God was going to protect her baby, but she was not able to escape the abortion. Other women who have gained asylum in the United States because of China's coercive population control program have told me terrible stories of crippling fines, imprisonment of family members, and destruction of homes and property-- all to force abortion and sterilization upon millions of women. According to last year's State Department Human Rights Report, one consequence of ``the country's birth limitation policies'' is that 56 percent of the world's female suicides occur in China, which is five times the world average and approximately 500 suicides by women per day. Mrs. Gao Xiao Duan, a former administrator of a Chinese Planned Birth Control Office, testified before Congress about China's policies. She explained, ``Once I found a woman who was nine months pregnant, but did not have a birth-allowed certificate. According to the policy, she was forced to undergo an abortion surgery. In the operation room I saw how the aborted child's lips were sucking, how its limbs were stretching. A physician injected poison into its skull, and the child died, and it was thrown into the trash can. . . . I was a monster in the daytime, injuring others by the Chinese communist authorities' barbaric planned- birth policy, but in the evening, I was like all other women and mothers, enjoying my life with my children. . . . to all those injured women, to all those children who were killed, I want to repent and say sincerely that I'm sorry!'' While Mrs. Gao acknowledged her part in these human rights atrocities and courageously told her story, UNFPA continues to side with the Chinese government. Since 1979, UNFPA has been the chief apologist and cheerleader for China's coercive one child per couple policy. Despite numerous credible forced abortion reports from impeccable sources, including human rights organizations like Amnesty International, journalists, former Chinese population control officials and, above all, from the woman victims themselves, high officials at UNFPA always dismiss and explain it all away. UNFPA has funded, provided crucial technical support and, most importantly, provided cover for massive crimes of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. Time and again, high officials of UNFPA have defended the indefensible and called voluntary that which is anything but. The former Executive Director of UNFPA Nafis Sadik said, ``China has every reason to feel proud of and pleased with its remarkable achievements made in its family planning policy. The country could offer its experiences and special expert to help other countries.'' On CBS Nightwatch she said, ``The UNFPA firmly believes, and so does the government of the People's Republic of China, that their program is a totally voluntary program.'' And Sven Burmester, UNFPA's man in Beijing, gushed over China's achievements, ``In strictly quantitative terms, it was the most successful family-planning policy ever developed.'' Make no mistake that China covets UNFPA financial and verbal support of their program as a ``Good-Housekeeping seal of approval'' to whitewash their human rights violations. I traveled to China and met with the head of their population control program, Peng Peiyun. In our lengthy conversation, Madame Peng Peiyun told me over and over again that there was no coercion in China, and then she cited UNFPA's participation in the program and UNFPA's public statements where UNFPA leaders have defended it. The United States should not help UNFPA cover up China's crimes against women and children. In 2001, the Department of State determined that UNFPA's activities in China violated our human rights law, thereby making them ineligible for U.S. funding. On July 21, 2001, Secretary of State Powell wrote, ``Regrettably, the PRC has in place a regime of severe penalties on women who have unapproved births. This regime plainly operates to coerce pregnant women to have abortions in order to avoid the penalties and therefore amounts to a `program of coercive abortion.' . . . UNFPA's support of, and involvement in, China's population-planning activities allows the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion. Therefore, it is not permissible to continue funding UNFPA at this time.'' The funds that would have gone to UNFPA were instead given to aid organizations. In 2002, China explicitly stated its Draconian population control program in law, but UNFPA still continues to support the Chinese program. The Bush Administration has consistently found UNFPA ineligible to receive funding, most recently releasing a July 15, 2004 letter where Secretary Powell said, ``China continues to employ coercion in its birth planning program, including through severe penalties for `out of plan births'. . . . UNFPA continues its support and involvement in China's coercive birth limitation program in counties where China's restrictive law and penalties are enforced by government officials.'' UNFPA remains guilty of shamelessly supporting and whitewashing terrible crimes against humanity, and the United States must have no part in subsidizing them. In refusing to fund UNFPA, President Bush and this Congress have taken the side of the oppressed and have refused to cooperate with the oppressor. UNFPA has aggressively defended a barbaric policy that makes brothers and sisters illegal, and makes women the pawns of the population control cadres. If UNFPA lobbied the Chinese government to stop forced abortion as aggressively as they lobby the United States to overturn human rights policy, there would be less suffering in China today. An organization like the UNFPA that continues to support China's one- child per couple coerced abortion policy should not be rewarded with any new funding, and the Maloney Amendment provides them no new funding.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, RU-486 is baby poison, and now we know it is also fatal to women. RU-486 is a powerful pesticide that was developed to kill human beings, not cure them. It targets unborn children for elimination as if they were cancers or viruses and hurts the women who take it. The fact that pro-abortion groups led the charge to water down the FDA's safety measures on RU-486 and now have been silent in the death of Holly Patterson is an indictment against them. They care more about abortion than they do women. These groups have actually chosen to subjugate women's lives and health to the insatiable desire for legal abortion at any time and for any reason. They have chosen abortion over women, but our current FDA should not continue to side with these extreme organizations such as Planned Parenthood. The FDA should be concerned more about health than they are with the bottom line of what the abortion industry is making. That is why I so strongly support Holly's Law, a bill authored by the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. DeMint) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett). I was very glad to join the gentleman from Maryland today at a press conference promoting this important legislation. As a father, my heart goes out to the Pattersons in their grief over the loss of their daughter. RU-486 killed Holly Patterson, and the approval of this terrible drug during the Clinton administration was done in the name of political expediency instead of patient health. Let me just say briefly, Mr. Speaker, that the FDA violated Federal law and their own standards in approving RU-486. They approved it without the submission of data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials. They created a final approval regimen for the use of RU-486 that does not reflect safeguards employed in the clinical trials on which FDA relied. They approved RU-486 using the expedited subpart H process which is only supposed to be used to approve drugs to treat serious or life-threatening illnesses. Unless you construe the killing of an unborn child, boy or girl, to be a disease or an illness, subpart H should have never been used. In violation of their own pediatric rule, they never tested the drug on adolescents, even though it is being used by adolescents. They have failed to impose and enforce restrictions on the use of RU-486 commensurate with the risk that it poses to women, and women are dying. They failed to require the Population Council to honor in full its postapproval safety study commitments, and let us not forget that this drug is being manufactured in the People's Republic of China. It is important to keep in mind that with RU-486, we are talking about calibrating a poison designed to kill one person without causing harm or without killing another. The purpose of RU-486 is to chemically poison, this is the purpose of it, another human being. That it is dangerous physically and mentally and should never be sold to young people as a solution to their problems ought to be self-evident. Abortion, Mr. Speaker, is violence against children. We can do better for women. It is not in their interest that their children be killed with these powerful poisons. I would just say finally, Mr. Speaker, that the longer this poison is on the market, administered to young people by groups like Planned Parenthood, the more unborn boys and girls and women who take it will be at risk of death and injury. Let us not forget, as well, that Planned Parenthood is an organization that annually performs about 240,000 abortions. They make an enormous amount of money from the abortions that they provide, either surgically or chemically; and this is now another tool in their arsenal against unborn children. They ought to be known as Child Abuse, Incorporated for the large number of children that they have killed and continue to kill with U.S. subsidies both at the Federal and the State level. Mr. Speaker, again we call on the FDA. It is time to take this drug, this chemical poisoning of unborn children that is so dangerous to women, off the market.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as Co-Chairman of the Bipartisan Alzheimer's Disease Congressional Task Force, I rise today to introduce multi-faceted legislation to boost the federal commitment to Alzheimer's research and help patients and family members currently struggling with the disease. This wide-ranging legislation attacks the problem of Alzheimer's disease on every front, and includes proposals to double our nation's biomedical research on Alzheimer's, improve clinical practice and training for promising gerontologists, enhance patient education, expand innovative state Alzheimer's caregiver support programs, and increase training for law enforcement officials who interact with dementia-afflicted patients. As some of my colleagues know, I was first elected to Congress in 1980, when President Ronald Reagan was elected to his first term as President. The legislation is named for our former President who died last year after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. I believe that it is fitting and appropriate that this important legislation be dedicated to the most famous Alzheimer's patient and one of our greatest Presidents. Throughout his remarkable life, President Reagan endured many hardships including an assassination attempt and a bout with cancer. His terminal struggle with Alzheimer's disease has greatly increased awareness of the disease, and the importance of developing breakthrough therapies to help patients and families affected by it. I am joined in introducing the legislation today by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), who serves as my Co-Chairman of the Alzheimer's Disease Congressional Task Force that the two of us founded in June 1999. The Task Force includes approximately 190 members. Also joining the effort is physician and Congressman Mike Burgess (R-TX), Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee's Subcommittee on Health, and who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where the legislation will be referred. In the Senate, a companion measure was introduced today by Senator Bond (R-MO) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). The Alzheimer's Association, which is the largest worldwide research, advocacy, and research support organization devoted to helping Alzheimer's patients, has strongly endorsed the ``Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act'' and worked closely with both House and Senate sponsors when drafting it. The centerpiece of the bill seeks to double funding for ethical biomedical research on Alzheimer's disease at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from $700 million to $1.4 billion. We believe that funding is needed to meet the demand of numerous unfunded studies that could lead to a breakthrough. Recent increases in Congressional funding for Alzheimer's research has put us at the cusp of some amazing breakthroughs. The level of scientific interest in dementia research has grown significantly as understanding of the disease process improves. But the main NIH institute doing the research has reported that only 15 percent of scientifically merit-worthy grant applications are being funded. This means that 85 percent of qualified grant proposals--studies that could hold the key to delaying the symptoms or curing the disease--are not being systematically explored. A few years ago, we were funding 25 percent of the worthwhile grants. This is a completely unacceptable state of affairs, and our legislation seeks to remedy this problem. I want to emphasize to my colleagues that an up-front investment in research will not only help improve the quality of life for millions of Americans, but will also help save the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next half-century. In addition to doubling our investment in Alzheimer's research at the NIH, the Smith-Markey-Burgess legislation also supports a number of other important Alzheimer's-related initiatives. These include: Establishing an Alzheimer's disease prevention initiative. Expanding and improving clinical research on Alzheimer's disease. Systematic research on Alzheimer's disease care. National summit on Alzheimer's disease. Education and assistance for caregivers and their families. Grants to expand needed respite care programs. A public education campaign. Improving Project Safe Return to help locate Alzheimer's patients who become disoriented and wander from their home. In conclusion, the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act offers a comprehensive approach for treating current Alzheimer's patients and researching potential cures to reduce the number of those who will struggle with this disease in the future. We will be working overtime to secure passage of this critical legislation. I urge my colleagues to join with me in cosponsoring it.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak regarding U.S. efforts to combat human trafficking. The U.S. Government now estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 women, children and men are bought and sold across international borders each year and exploited through forced labor or commercial sex exploitation, and potentially millions more are trafficked internally within the borders of countries. Eighty percent of the victims are women and girls. An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign citizens are trafficked into the United States each year. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights in the late 1990s, I led an effort to end the scourge of trafficking by sponsoring the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), P.L. 106-386, which was signed into law in December 2000. In 2003, I sponsored a reauthorization of that Act which also became law. These two pieces of legislation created a comprehensive framework for combating trafficking in persons abroad, as well as the trafficking of foreign nationals into the United States. As a result, our government has been a leader in addressing this human rights violation and encouraging other governments to do the same. When I held the first hearing on trafficking, 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--governments did not offer them assistance to escape the slavery-like conditions in which they were trapped, and few NGOs were equipped to offer survivors of trafficking the restorative care needed to heal physically, mentally and spiritually from the trauma they experienced. Little was being done to prevent others from being exploited in the same way. The situation today is remarkably improved. Since taking office, the Bush Administration has devoted more than $295 million to combat trafficking in more than 120 countries. Across the globe, governments are taking action to prevent trafficking, to prosecute the exploiters, and to give hope and restoration to those victimized by trafficking. As Ambassador Miller testified to Congress last summer, between 2003 and 2004, twenty-four countries enacted new laws to combat trafficking. Dozens more were in the process of drafting or passing such laws. Moreover, nearly 8,000 traffickers were prosecuted worldwide and 2,800 were convicted. Shelters have been set up for victims. NGOs and faith communities have reached out to help heal survivors of trafficking. In order to support the ongoing efforts that have made these gains possible, on February 17, I introduced, along with this Subcommittee's Ranking Member, Rep. Donald Payne, and eight other original co- sponsors, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, H.R. 972. This bill would reauthorize appropriations for anti- trafficking programs here and abroad. The bill also offers solutions to a number of specific scenarios in which trafficking is a problem, but which our experience has shown could benefit from additional initiatives. Our witnesses at today's hearing will focus on some of these issues and I will mention just a few here. For example, drawing lessons from the aftermath of war in the Balkans a decade ago, and the devastating tsunami in South Asia a mere few months ago, foreign policy and humanitarian aid professionals increasingly recognize the heightened vulnerability of indigenous populations in crisis situations to many forms of violence, including trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Traffickers also recognize this vulnerability. This bill would focus governmental efforts, particularly by the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense, to develop trafficking prevention strategies for post-conflict and humanitarian emergency situations--strategies which do not currently exist in sufficient form. The bill would also take further steps to ensure that U.S. Government personnel and contractors are held accountable for involvement with acts of trafficking in persons while abroad on behalf of the U.S. Government. Although few would dispute that the involvement of U.S. personnel, including members of the U.S. Armed Forces, with trafficking in persons in any form is inconsistent with U.S. laws and policies and undermines the credibility and mission of U.S. Government programs in foreign countries, there remain loopholes in U.S. laws which allow such acts to go unpunished. This bill closes those loopholes by expanding U.S. criminal jurisdiction for serious offenses to all U.S. Government contractors abroad--jurisdiction which already exists with respect to contractors supporting Department of Defense missions abroad--and by making federal criminal laws against sex and labor trafficking applicable to members of the Armed Forces. The bill would also direct the Secretary of Defense to designate a director of anti-trafficking policies to guide DOD's efforts to faithfully implement policies against trafficking. The bill would take on the outrageous situation of peacekeepers, humanitarian aid workers, and international organizations' personnel, being complicit in trafficking and sexual exploitation. On March 2nd, I chaired a hearing in this Subcommittee that examined the evidence of gross sexual misconduct and exploitation of refugees and vulnerable people by U.N. peacekeepers and civilian personnel assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights groups and the U.N.'s own internal investigations have U.N. covered over 150 allegations against Mission personnel involving sexual contact with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money, as well as allegations of rape, forced prostitution, and demands of sex for jobs. However, to date, there has not been one successful prosecution of U.N. civilian or military personnel, either in the Congo or elsewhere. The scandal with the U.N. Mission in the Congo is but the latest in a long list of allegations against international peacekeeping personnel involving sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation that extends back at least a decade. The involvement of peacekeepers in trafficking or sexual exploitation is not just a private matter involving only personal moral choices. Hundreds of vulnerable women and children are being re-victimized; the reputation of the United Nations is being badly damaged; and lack of internal discipline is compromising security and effectiveness of the peacekeeping operations. To his credit, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has promulgated a ``zero tolerance'' policy on sexual exploitation by peacekeepers. In June 2004, NATO also adopted an anti-trafficking policy. But words alone do not protect women and children from abuse. H.R. 972 would require that the Secretary of State certify prior to endorsing an international peacekeeping mission that the international organization has taken measures to prevent and, as necessary, hold accountable peacekeepers in the mission who are involved with trafficking or sexual exploitation. The bill would also require that the annual Trafficking in Persons Report include information on steps taken by international organizations to eliminate involvement of the organizations' personnel in trafficking. The bill also continues to improve upon the provision of assistance to foreign victims in the United States by improving trafficking victims' access to information about federally funded victim services programs and facilitating access to counsel for victims. The bill would also establish a guardian ad litem program for child trafficking victims of trafficking. H.R. 972 also recognizes that trafficking in persons occurs within the borders of single countries, including the United States. According to the State Department, if the number of people trafficked internally within countries is added to the estimate, the total number of trafficking victims annually would be in the range of 2,000,000 to 4,000,000. Although outside the jurisdiction of this subcommittee, I would just mention that the bill addresses the trafficking of American citizens and nationals within the United States--which the bill defines as ``domestic trafficking.'' Although there are no precise statistics on the numbers of United States citizens or nationals who have been victimized through trafficking, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 children in the United States are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation, including trafficking, at any given time. Despite the willingness of most governments today to address international trafficking, few have recognized the existence of internal trafficking within their own borders. By addressing internal trafficking in a bill that also addresses international trafficking, the United States will again lead by example in showing that internal trafficking victims must not be dismissed by the law enforcement community as prostitutes or juvenile delinquents. This bill would begin to shift the paradigm--much as we have done so successfully in the international arena--to view these exploited souls for what they really are--victims of crime and sexually exploited children.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of democratic reformers in Cuba, on the second anniversary of Castro's brutal crackdown of pro-democracy advocates. Two years ago, with the world's attention riveted on Iraq, Fidel Castro ordered his feared State Security apparatus to round up at least 75 of Cuba's bravest and brightest, prominent and lesser-known dissidents. Among these are 28 independent journalists and 40 Varela project workers. With sickening speed, these men and women were paraded before kangaroo courts and given prison sentences ranging from 6 to 28 years. 61 remain in jail. When the Committee on International Relations met April 16, 2003 to decry this vile abrogation of justice, I stated at that time: ``Even some of the most outspoken leftists, who once saw in Fidel Castro something to admire, now admit that Castro's unbridled cruelty, thirst for blood and extreme paranoia are indefensible.'' I regret to report that Castro has given me no cause to reassess that statement. What were the so-called crimes of these brave men and women? Advocating democracy . . . writing as independent journalists . . . being men and women of faith . . . Their real offense was to dare to question the authority of a single man, Mr. Castro. The Cuban Revolution is really about Castro's vanity and pursuit of personal power. From the beginning, Castro has shot and jailed anyone--even his close friends--who has dared get in the way of his personal ambition. Dictatorships, reflecting the whims of a despot, always subject their people to deprivations and absurdities. The Castro regime recently let a handful of its political prisoners out on ``parole,'' citing health reasons. The regime's callousness towards ailing political prisoners is well documented. Now, independent Cuban journalists are reporting that Cuba's prisons have been virtually emptied of medical personnel. Why? Mr. Castro decided to send them to Venezuela and other places to advance his personal expansionist agenda. Writing in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Nobel prize winner Jose Sarampo, a Portuguese communist and close friend of Castro commented, ``Cuba has won no heroic victory by executing these three men, but it has lost my confidence, damaged my hopes and robbed me of illusions.'' Without anything that resembles due process, three alleged ferry hijackers were killed by firing squad in Cuba, while others got long jail terms. Illusions, as Castro lover Jose Sarampo has only now begun to acknowledge, often persist despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the case of Castro's Cuba. Despite decades of credible reports of widespread egregious violations of human rights, including the pervasive use of torture and vicious beatings of political prisoners by the Cuban government, some have clung to indefensibly foolish illusions of Castro's revolution. Despite the fact that the Cuban government systematically denies its people the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association, and severely restricts workers' rights, including the right to form independent trade unions, some have, nevertheless, clung to illusion. Despite the fact that Castro maintains an unimaginably vast network of surveillance by the thugs in his secret police and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs)--neighbors spying on neighbors-- some continue to embrace bogus perceptions--illusions about Cuba. In his book, ``Against All Hope, a Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulags'' Armando Valladares, a courageous and amazing man who spent 22 years in Cuban prisons wrote: ``The government of Cuba and defenders of the Cuban Revolution denied that incidents that I recount (in the book) ever happened. Castro sympathizers, who were more subtle, said the incidents I described were exaggerations. And there were others, well meaning, who simply could not bring themselves to believe that such horrors, crimes and torture existed in the political prisons of Cuba.'' ``My response to those who still try to justify Castro's tyranny with the excuse that he has built schools and hospitals is this: Stalin, Hitler and Pinochet also built schools and hospitals, and like Castro, they also tortured and assassinated opponents. They built concentration and extermination camps and eradicated all liberties, committing the worst crimes against humanity.'' ``Unbelievably, while many non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International and America's Watch have denounced the human rights situation in Cuba, there has been a continuing love affair on the part of the media and many intellectuals with Fidel Castro.'' That love affair--that illusion--seemed to crash and burn with the onset of the current crackdown on dissidents. The EU took action in June 2003 by limiting high-level EU governmental visits and inviting Cuban dissidents to national day celebrations. But their memories are short. In January of this year, at the initiative of the Spanish government, the EU temporarily suspended these measures for a six-month period. Let me mention a few of the ones who were summarily sentenced and remain in prison. Omar Rodriguez Saludes, an independent journalist known to ride his bicycle to news conferences: 27 years. Hector Palacios, one of the key figures promoting the Varela Project: 25 years. Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who wrote critical articles about the Cuban economy for the Internet: 25 years. The President of the Independent United Confederation of Cuban Workers (CUTC), Pedro Pablo Alvarez, 25 years. Journalist Raul Rivero and Ricardo Gonzalez Afonso, an editor at ``De Cuba'' magazine, each got 20 years. The list goes on and on. It was a true honor to hear from Economist Morta Beatriz Rogue today, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison and released for health reasons in 2004. We salute her courage to continue the fight on behalf of those who are still in prison today. For its part, the Bush Administration has made its deep and abiding concern for the political prisoners and the protection of elemental human rights in Cuba abundantly clear. At the time of the crackdown, former Secretary of State Colin Powell declared: ``In recent days the Cuban government has undertaken the most significant act of political repression in decades. We call on Castro to end this despicable repression and free these prisoners of conscience. The United States and the international community will be unrelenting in our insistence that Cubans who seek peaceful change be permitted to do so.'' In like manner, the Congress has consistently demanded the immediate release of all the prisoners and support of the right of the Cuban people to exercise fundamental political and civil liberties. H. Res. 179, a resolution offered by Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen in April 2003, passed by a vote of 414-0, 11 present. In April of 2001, I sponsored a resolution, H. Res. 91, calling on the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva to condemn Cuba's human rights abuse and appoint a Special Rapporteur for Cuba. While it passed, there were a disturbing number of negative votes. That vote was 347-44 with 22 voting present. We have another opportunity today to move forward a resolution offered by my Colleague, Mr. Menendez, to show that these prisoners are not forgotten. Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and numerous leaders of Cuba's dictatorship, are directly responsible for crimes against humanity past--and present. Someday these oppressors will be held to account and the people of Cuba will live in freedom. Note on the Varela Project: Named after a 19th century anti-slavery, pro-independence priest, Felix Varela, the Varela Project was a petition to the National Assembly seeking a nationwide referendum calling for basic human rights, an amnesty for political prisoners, private enterprise and election law reform to facilitate free and fair elections. On May 10th of 2002, more than 11,000 signatures were initially submitted--easily exceeding the constitutionally prescribed 10,000. Castro, however, responded by orchestrating his own petition drive that said Cuba's socialist system could not be changed, leading the rubber stamp National Assembly to declare Cuba's socialist system ``irrevocable''.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the recent U.N. Peacekeeping scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We know that there have been disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct and exploitation of refugees by U.N. peacekeepers and civilian personnel assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights groups and the U.N.'s own internal investigations have uncovered over 150 allegations against Mission personnel. These allegations typically involve peacekeepers' sexual contact with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money. According to the U.N., these contacts occurred with regularity, and many involved girls under the age of 18, with some as young as 11-14. Even more troubling are allegations of rape, forced prostitution, and demands of sex for jobs by U.N. civilian personnel. Some in our audience might be thinking that apart from the more serious allegations of rape and other sexual abuse, prostitution is the world's oldest profession and that it is unrealistic to ask soldiers away from their families to abstain from sex. This attitude of ``boys will be boys'' is indeed common. In fact, the U.N. reported that it encountered significant and widespread resistance to its investigation, and that numerous U.N. personnel were unwilling to identify perpetrators. The reality, however, is that this state of affairs is not just a private matter involving only the personal moral choices of the peacekeepers. Hundreds of vulnerable women and children are being re- victimized; the reputation of the United Nations is being badly damaged; and lack of internal discipline is compromising security and effectiveness of the peacekeeping operations. From any perspective, this situation is deplorable. Let me expand on a few of these points. First, United Nations forces conducting operations under United Nations command and control are tasked with upholding international humanitarian law and have a particular duty to protect women and children from sexual assault or exploitation. Peacekeepers have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of Congolese society. When the peacekeepers become the exploiters, something is dreadfully wrong. Second, the civilian population is especially vulnerable. There are frequent outbreaks of armed violence in the eastern half of the Congo, especially in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, as the country emerges from its second war in the last ten years. The civilian population in these areas has experienced systematic acts of rape, torture, murder, and other abuse. Many of the Congolese women and girls in the camps which the peacekeepers are protecting have been orphaned and/or are victims of rape which occurred during the conflicts. Investigators found that they have experienced significant trauma which continues to affect them today. Poverty and hunger are also significant factors contributing to the abuse. Children driven by hunger approach the peacekeepers seeking food or the smallest sums of money. Many families are cut off from their farmlands because of fear of attacks from militia, and few alternate employment options exist. According to the U.N.'s own investigation, food supplies in some camps are reportedly inadequate. Third, the continued toleration of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. leaders is severely damaging the reputation and the effectiveness of the organization. All troop-contributing nations recognize the Code of Personal Conduct for Blue Helmets as binding. This Code explicitly bans any exchange of money, employment, goods or services for sex, and renders the perpetrators liable to disciplinary action for serious misconduct. In fact, the U.N. has promulgated at least five U.N. codes of conduct prohibiting sexual activity with children (persons under 18 years of age) in the Congo, and yet the practice continues unabated. This activity is prohibited under rule four of the Code of Conduct for Blue Helmets, the MONUC code of conduct, the Secretary-General's bulletin on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of 2003 (ST/SGB/2003/13), section seven of the Secretary-General's bulletin on observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian law of 1999 (ST/SGB/1999/13), and new ``non- fraternisation'' regulations promulgated by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on February 9th. That the abuse continues and is characterized by internal U.N. reports as ``significant, widespread and on-going'' appears to indicate there is rather a state of ``zero-compliance with zero-tolerance'' throughout the mission. In the words of Dr. Sarah Mendelson, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who testified in a joint issue forum before the House Armed Services Committee and the Helsinki Committee last fall, ``Military misconduct is a threat to any mission. When that misconduct involves human rights abuses, it affects the credibility and reputation of peacekeepers and can enrage local populations. When those implicated are also responsible for force protection, they can compromise their main military mission. . . . Those peacekeepers who serve with honor are being tainted by the minority who purchase sex with these women and girls and by the even smaller minority who actively engage in the grave human rights abuse of trafficking.'' The U.N. has struggled with similar allegations regarding peacekeeper misconduct and sexual exploitation in the past ten years in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, as well as on the European continent in Kosovo and Bosnia. Some of the underlying issues are complex, such as how to ensure perpetrators are held accountable when no effective U.N. mechanism exists, and Member states are unwilling to prosecute. Yet other simple fixes also exist, such as the creation of an offender database, holding commanders accountable for the conduct of their troops, and banning nations from peacekeeping missions which refuse to take disciplinary action. The seeming reluctance of the U.N. to act on some of these seemingly obvious solutions raises questions about the willingness of leadership to undertake reform, and raises questions about the ability of the U.N. to police itself. Furthermore, the United States Congress has a fiduciary obligation to do so. The United States is the world's largest donor to the peacekeeping mission in the Congo, contributing over $200 million annually, and contributes almost over a quarter of the entire peacekeeping budget of the United Nations. The Administration has asked the Congress for an additional $780 million for peacekeeping operations in the supplemental budget request. We hope that continual Congressional efforts will spur needed change, not only in the Congo, but in the standard operating practices of U.N. peacekeeping around the world.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the distinguished majority leader.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, we do have one additional request for time, and I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays).

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. We have no further requests for time, and I just want to conclude and again say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), as well as to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the chairman of our distinguished Committee on International Relations, to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and, of course, to our majority leader for his leadership on this in ensuring that this very important piece of legislation not only gets expedited treatment but will be passed early and closed enough to the tsunami in order to address some of the problems that were exposed as a result of it. Children need protection. Women need protection. This bill advances that ball. It is an important and very noble task, and I am glad we have bipartisan consensus on this kind of humanitarian and human rights legislation.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 912) to ensure the protection of beneficiaries of United States humanitarian assistance.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 912.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in the wake of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami and the genocide in Darfur, we have witnessed untold suffering. And yet, Mr. Speaker, we have learned from other crises situations that people in some crises become victims of additional and incomprehensible violations, sexual exploitation and abuse. The most vulnerable groups, women and children, are at greatest risk. The passage of the Humanitarian Assistance Code of Conduct Act of 2005 ensures that steps will be taken to protect the most vulnerable people from sexual exploitation and abuse by those providing aid and humanitarian relief operations. H.R. 912 requires that the United States Government assistance for humanitarian relief operations will be available only to organizations that have adopted a code of conduct incorporating the core principles of the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Protection From Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises. These principles include, but are not limited to, the following: ``Sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian workers constitute acts of gross misconduct and are therefore grounds for termination of employment.'' ``Sexual activity with children (persons under the age of 18) is prohibited regardless of the age of majority or age of consent locally. Mistaken belief regarding the age of a child is not a defense.'' ``Exchange of money, employment, goods, or services for sex, including sexual favors or other forms of humiliating, degrading or exploitative behavior, is prohibited. This includes exchange of assistance that is due to beneficiaries.'' Mr. Speaker, passage of the Humanitarian Assistance Code of Conduct Act of 2005 will help ensure the protection of beneficiaries of United States humanitarian assistance. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I would also include a CBO estimate for H.R. 912, which indicates that this legislation has no significant budgetary effect. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the important provisions of H.R. 912, I would like to inform my colleagues of additional measures contained in a bill I introduced, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, H.R. 972, which we will be marking up next week, cosponsored by my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), and a number of other Members of this committee and of this House. That comprehensive legislation is designed to help ensure the protection of vulnerable women and children in post-natural disaster situations. H.R. 972, among several other things, incorporates stronger child protection and trafficking prevention activities into USAID, State and DOD post-conflict and post-natural disaster relief programs. The measure provides for the Secretary of State and the administrator of USAID to conduct a study regarding the threat and practice of trafficking in persons generated by post-conflict and humanitarian emergencies in foreign countries, and to look at and implement best practices to combat human trafficking in such areas. It also requires, and I think this is very important, that the Secretary of State certify that prior to approval of a peacekeeping mission or a renewal of the mandate, the Secretary of State would have to guarantee or certify, 15 days before that, that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable populations from trafficking and from rape and other kinds of sexual misconduct. I would point out parenthetically to my colleagues that yesterday we held a day-long hearing on the atrocities committed by U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo, where unfortunately there have been credible and large numbers of allegations made that U.N. peacekeepers have raped 13-year-old, 14-year-old, and 15-year-old girls and older and have offered them $1 or $2 or a loaf of bread in exchange for this exploitation. It is outrageous. The U.N. for its part, I believe, is committed to trying to rectify and remedy this situation, but more needs to be done; and we need to have in place safeguards to ensure that this kind of misconduct, which is gross and, unfortunately, very, very prevalent, is mitigated and stopped. This bill is another step in that direction; and I applaud the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), and all of those who have sponsored it and brought it to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely clear that the ``Programme of Action'' produced by both the 1994 Cairo Population Conference and the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference did not create, adopt, endorse, or promote a right to abortion. I know. I was there in an official capacity at both conferences. The outcomes of both were a remarkable victory for the pro-life movement-- those of us who recognize that all human life is sacred and that both legal and illegal abortion is violence against children and the exploitation of women. It was a victory for vulnerable unborn children who would be killed by dismemberment and chemical poisoning and for women who deserve better than the cruelty of abortion. The outcome was a stunning defeat for the Clinton Administration, which sought to impose an international right to abortion on the entire world. So why is the Bush Administration seeking to reaffirm that the Beijing consensus did not include a right to abortion? Because clarity, transparency and truthfulness is needed at this time to dispel a pernicious myth--the big lie--promoted by some that these U.N. documents now endorse abortion. Nothing, Mr. Speaker, could be further from the truth. Over the past 10 years, pro-abortionists have sought to convey the impression that both Cairo and Beijing--by supporting reproductive health, for example--includes the slaughter of unborn children by abortion. Instead of focusing on women's economic and political empowerment, an end to all forms and manifestations of discrimination, and an end to violence against women, some have sought to distort the Cairo and Beijing consensus to include the killing of girls and boys by abortion. Yesterday I chaired a hearing on the horrific behavior of U.N. Peacekeepers in the Congo who have raped and sexually exploited girls and young women. As the prime sponsor of the ``Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000'' I take a backseat to no one in promoting women's human rights. Recent scandals, like the Congo or the oil for food scandal, begs the question of honesty and transparency at the U.N. Despite having no mandate to promote abortion, the U.N. Compliance Committee for the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has recently scolded Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Luxembourg, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Uruguay, Portugal, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Lichtenstein, Paraguay, and Samoa for their laws and policies on abortion. In addition, at the end of 2004, the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued a report that absolutely overstepped its bounds and told Poland to repeal their pro-life laws. The report stated, ``The State party should liberalize its legislation and practice on abortion.'' For a U.N. committee that purported to respect fundamental human rights to condemn Poland--and others--for protecting their unborn babies is scandalous. Unborn children deserve respect in law and in practice-- these littlest of humans deserve to have their basic human rights protected. A Center for Reproductive Rights internal document talks about reinterpreting terms and phrases in international declarations, like the Cairo and Beijing documents, to promote abortion and limit parental rights throughout the world. I posted in the December 8, 2003 Congressional Record the Center for Reproductive Rights internal documents where one of their trustees said, ``We have to fight harder, be a little dirtier.'' These papers reveal a Trojan Horse of deceit. In their own words, these documents demonstrate how abortion promotion groups are pushing abortion here and abroad, not by direct argument, but by twisting words and definitions. In discussing legal strategies to legalize abortion internationally they go as far as to say, ``. . . there is a stealth quality to the work: we are achieving incremental recognition of values without a huge amount of scrutiny from the opposition. These lower profile victories will gradually put us in a strong position to assert a broad consensus around our assertions.'' The abortion lobby admits they are using deceptive tactics to push abortion on countries that have laws protecting unborn boys and girls. All the United States wants to do at this conference is to be truthful, nonambiguous and accurate about what the Beijing Programme of Action actually says about abortion and get on with the real work of helping women throughout the world.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the suffering of the people of Burma. They continue their valiant struggle for human rights and democracy despite brutal human rights violations committed by the illegal ruling military regime. In a few days, Burma's military regime will reconvene a sham ``National Convention'' under the guise of facilitating a transition to democracy in the country. In reality, the Convention is filled with handpicked delegates of the ruling regime. It is simply an attempt to legalize the regime's grip on power and guarantee the military's permanent role in the future of the country. Why do I call the Convention a sham? Because the country's democracy movement, led by the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, is not invited. Her political party, the National League for Democracy, is similar to the African National Congress in South Africa under apartheid rule in the 1980s and enjoys universal support from the people of Burma. In Burma's last election, the NLD won 82 percent of the seats in parliament, only to have the results annulled by the regime. They are completely excluded from the Convention. As if that's not bad enough, the Convention is being held at a military camp which is surrounded by several military battalions. Among the regime's hand-picked participants are members of the United Wa State Army, whose leaders were indicted in absentia by a U.S. Federal Court in New York on January 24, 2004. The Department of Justice rightfully stated that the UWSA is one of the largest heroin producing and trafficking organizations in the world and is responsible for the production of more than 180 tons of opium in 2004. It is estimated that the UWSA has exported more than $1 billion worth of heroin to the United States alone since 1985, as well as vast amounts throughout the world. The proceeds from this drug money have kept Burma's military regime in power. Burma's regime is a narco-dictatorship, addicted to the proceeds of the international drug trade. The UWSA and the regime have worked together to launder billions of dollars in drug profits into the Burmese economy. We should not tolerate this orchestrated play by members of the military junta and drug traffickers, at the cost of thousands of lives of Burmese non-violence activists. As a Member of Congress who has been engaged on human rights and promoting democracy for 25 years, I am proud that our country has taken a firm stance against thugs who now control Burma. This pressure has been from both Republican and Democrats in Congress and the last two administrations. We should publicly denounce this sham convention and the drug traffickers that plan to attend. In late 2004 Congress unanimously passed a resolution calling for the U.N. Security Council to address the Burmese military regime's threat to regional peace and security. I am also encouraged by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's labeling of Burma as an ``outpost of tyranny'' and I fully support her assessment. Now, I respectfully encourage President Bush and Secretary Rice to follow-up on our resolutions and take the issue to the U.N. Security council, where it belongs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, which is intended to improve the United States' efforts in combating the scourge of human trafficking. I am pleased to be joined as original cosponsors by Representative Lantos, Ranking Member of the International Relations Committee, Representative Payne, Ranking Member of the International Relations Subcommittee on Global Human Rights, International Operations and Africa, Majority Whip Representative Blunt, Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Committee Chairman Representative Wolf, Helsinki Commission Ranking Member Representative Cardin, Representative Ros- Lehtinen, Chair of the International Relations Subcommittee on Middle East and Central Asia, and Representatives Pence, Pitts, and Faleomavaega. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Government now estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 women, children and men are bought and sold across international borders each year and exploited through forced labor or commercial sex exploitation. An estimated 80 percent of the victims of this barbaric trade are women and girls. Congress and President Bush have demonstrated unprecedented international leadership in combating human trafficking through enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003. Since taking office, the Bush Administration has devoted more than $295 million to combat trafficking worldwide. Under the framework of the TVPA, the United States Government's efforts to combat trafficking in persons have focused primarily on international trafficking in persons, including the trafficking of an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign citizens into the United States each year. Across the globe, governments are taking action to prevent trafficking, to prosecute the exploiters and to give hope and restoration to those victimized by trafficking. Between 2003 and 2004, twenty-four countries enacted new laws to combat trade in human lives. Dozens more are in the process of drafting or passing such laws. Moreover, nearly 8,000 traffickers were prosecuted worldwide and 2,800 were convicted. This bill would support the ongoing efforts that have made these gains possible by reauthorizing appropriations for anti- trafficking programs here and abroad. The bill also offers solutions to a number of specific scenarios in which trafficking is a problem, but which would benefit from additional initiatives. For example, drawing lessons from the aftermath of war in the Balkans a decade ago, and the devastating tsunami in South Asia a mere few months ago, foreign policy and humanitarian aid professionals increasingly recognize the heightened vulnerability of indigenous populations in crisis situations to many forms of violence, including trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Traffickers also recognize this vulnerability. This bill would focus governmental efforts, particularly by the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense, to develop trafficking prevention strategies for post-conflict and humanitarian emergency situations--strategies which do not currently exist in sufficient form. The bill would also take further steps to ensure that U.S. Government personnel and contractors are held accountable for involvement with acts of trafficking in persons while abroad on behalf of the U.S. Government. Although few would dispute that the involvement of U.S. personnel, including members of the U.S. Armed Forces, with trafficking in persons in any form is inconsistent with U.S. laws and policies and undermines the credibility and mission of U.S. Government programs in foreign countries, there remain loopholes in U.S. laws which allow such acts to go unpunished. This bill closes those loopholes by expanding U.S. criminal jurisdiction for serious offenses to all U.S. Government contractors abroad--jurisdiction which already exists with respect to contractors supporting Department of Defense missions abroad--and by making federal criminal laws against sex and labor trafficking applicable to members of the Armed Forces and others subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The bill would also direct the Secretary of Defense to designate a director of anti-trafficking policies who would guide DOD's efforts to faithfully implement applicable policies against trafficking. The bill would also take on the outrageous situation of military and civilian peacekeepers, humanitarian aid workers, and international organizations' personnel, from complicity in trafficking and sexual exploitation in connection with international peacekeeping operations. To cite but the most recent examples of this, in December, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan admitted that U.N. peacekeepers and staff have sexually abused or exploited war refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among the 150 or so allegations of misconduct are instances of sexually abusing children, rape, and prostitution. On January 28, a senior official with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was arrested for sexual abuse of minors and trafficking in Kosovo. The long list of allegations against international peacekeeping personnel involving sex trafficking and other forms of sexual exploitation extends back at least a decade and yet the United Nations and most other international organizations have failed to take sufficient action to end this abuse. To his credit, Kofi Annan has promulgated a ``zero tolerance'' policy on sexual exploitation by peacekeepers. But words alone do not protect women and children from abuse. Earlier this week, President Bush asked Congress for $780,000,000 to pay for contributions to international peacekeeping activities this fiscal year. He has requested more than $1 billion for next year. Prior to writing this check, the bill I am introducing would require that the Secretary of State no longer accept words alone as evidence that the United Nations, NATO, and other multilateral organizations are taking seriously the responsibility to address trafficking and exploitation by peacekeepers. The bill would require that the Secretary of State certify, prior to endorsing an international peacekeeping mission, that measures have been taken to prevent and, as necessary, hold accountable peacekeepers in the mission who are involved with trafficking or illegal sexual exploitation. In addition to a host of other measures to address trafficking overseas and to aid foreign victims in the United States, the bill also recognizes that trafficking in persons occurs within the borders of single countries, including the United States. According to the State Department, if the number of people trafficked internally within countries is added to the estimate, the total number of trafficking victims annually would be in the range of 2,000,000 to 4,000,000. This bill would address the trafficking of American citizens and nationals within the borders of the United States--which the bill defines as ``domestic trafficking.'' There are no precise statistics on the numbers of United States citizens or nationals who have been victimized through trafficking, but there is great reason for concern. It is well documented, for example, that runaway and homeless children are highly susceptible to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Every day in our country, between 1,300,000 and 2,800,000 runaway and homeless youth live on the streets. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 children in the United States are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States, including trafficking, at any given time. To date, U.S. victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation have been dismissed by the law enforcement community, particularly at the State and local levels, as prostitutes. Child victims are dealt with as juvenile delinquents. This bill would begin to shift the paradigm--much as we have done so successfully in the international arena--to view these exploited souls for what they really are--victims of crime and sexually exploited children. The bill I am introducing would begin the process of developing a comprehensive strategy to prevent the victimization of U.S. citizens and nationals through domestic trafficking. It would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to undertake a study and then a program to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts in the United States, which in turn fuels trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. The bill would also authorize HHS to make grants to expand services to victims of domestic trafficking, with a priority for NGOs with experience in caring for victims of commercial sexual exploitation. NGOs who work with trafficked children in the United States have indicated time and again that a lack of housing options for such children is a debilitating impediment to providing effective rehabilitative and restorative help. In response, this bill would require HHS to carry out a pilot program for residential treatment facilities for minor victims of domestic trafficking and authorizes the appropriation of $10,000,000 over 2 years for this purpose. The bill would ensure that communities in the United States are fully informed about the presence of sex offenders in those communities. The bill would require that state sex offender registries include convictions in foreign court of a sexually violent offense, or a criminal offense against a child victim. The bill would also enhance State and local efforts to combat trafficking through a grants program to encourage the investigation and prosecution of domestic trafficking cases and the development of collaboration between law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 would address these and many other areas of concern, would authorize funding to continue our government's efforts against trafficking, and would build upon the experience of implementing the TVPA to refine U.S. laws and practices to better fulfill the intent of that law. In summary, the TVPRA of 2005 would address trafficking in persons in foreign countries and the trafficking of foreigners into the United States by: Incorporating trafficking prevention activities in post-conflict and humanitarian emergency relief programs conducted by the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense; Requiring that sex offender registries, as established by the Jacob Wetterling Act and Megan's Law, include convictions in foreign courts; Improving trafficking victims' access to information about federally funded victim services programs and facilitating access to counsel for victims; Establishing a guardian ad litem program for child victims of trafficking; Requiring USAID to establish in two foreign locations a pilot program of long-term residential rehabilitation facilities for victims of trafficking and authorizing $2.5 million for 2 years for this purpose. Expanding U.S. criminal jurisdiction for felony offenses committed by contractors working abroad for Federal agencies; Amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice to create punitive provisions for sex and labor trafficking by members of the U.S. Armed Forces; Expanding the ability to prosecute traffickers for money laundering; Amending the Protect Act to require U.S. Embassies to seek local prosecution or extradition of American citizens who commit sex crimes overseas. Appointing the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking; Requiring that the Attorney General's annual report to Congress include data on the number of trafficking victims identified, and benefits granted, with respect to each trafficking case prosecuted by the Department of Justice; Refining criteria for determining, in the context of the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, whether a government is making ``serious and sustained efforts'' to eliminate trafficking: (1) whether the government is taking measures to prevent its nationals from engaging in trafficking during peacekeeping operations, and (2) whether the government is implementing measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and participation in international sex tourism; Expressing the need for research into the linkage between trafficking and the financing of terrorism; trafficking and HIV/AIDS; the development of an effective mechanism for quantifying the number of victims of trafficking; and the enslavement of children for use as soldiers; Requiring that human rights training for Foreign Service Officers include instruction about trafficking in persons; Requiring that the annual Trafficking in Persons Report include information on steps taken by the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other international organizations to eliminate involvement of the organizations' personnel in trafficking; Requiring the Secretary of State to certify prior to endorsing an international peacekeeping mission that measures have been taken to prevent the peacekeepers from being involved with trafficking. The bill would prohibit the United States from providing logistical support or personnel in support of a peacekeeping mission until this certification is received unless the Secretary provides (a) an explanation as to the steps taken by the U.S. to encourage the international organization to take appropriate measures to prevent trafficking, and (b) a certification that endorsing the mission is in the national interests of the U.S., notwithstanding the failure of the international organization to address trafficking; Directing the Secretary of Defense to designate within the Office of the Secretary of Defense a director of anti-trafficking policies; Directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate acts of trafficking. The bill also provides for new initiatives to combat the trafficking of U.S. citizens and nationals within the United States by: Requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to prepare a report of best practices for reducing the demand for commercial sex acts, which demands feed into the demand for trafficking into prostitution, to post the report on the HHS website, and to establish and carry out programs to implement these practices; Requires that all U.S. Government grants, contracts or cooperative agreements with private entities contain a clause authorizing termination if the grantee, subgrantee, contractor or subcontractor (a) engages in severe forms of trafficking in persons or has procured a commercial sex act during the period of time that the grant, contract or cooperative agreement is in effect, or (b) uses forced labor in the performance of the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. Since 2003 this requirement has been in place for international grants, contracts and cooperative agreements; Authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants to expand services to victims of domestic trafficking; Requires the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out a pilot program for residential treatment facilities for minor victims of domestic trafficking and authorizes the appropriation of $5,000,000 for 2 years for this purpose; Enhances state and local efforts to combat trafficking through a grants program to encourage the investigation and prosecution of domestic trafficking cases and the development of collaboration between law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations; Improves Interagency Coordination to Combat Domestic Trafficking by allowing the Director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to participate in the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Reauthorizes appropriations for fiscal years 2006 and 2007: $5.5 million to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking; $3,000 in representation funds; $15 million to the Department of Health and Human Services; To the Secretary of State, $10 million for assistance for victims in other countries; $10 million for programs to improve law enforcement and prosecution; and $10 million for trafficking prevention initiatives; $15 million to the Department of Justice for assistance to victims in the United States; and $250,000 for anti-trafficking training activities at the International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEAs); $15 million to the President for foreign victim assistance (prevention activities); $15 million for assistance to foreign countries to meet the minimum standards to combat trafficking; $300,000 for research; and $250,000 for anti-trafficking training activities at the ILEAs; and $10 million to the Department of Labor; $15 million, for FY06 only, to provide additional resources to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate international and domestic trafficking cases. Mr. Speaker, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its reauthorization in 2003 enjoyed bi-partisan support in both Houses of Congress. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill and enhance the good work underway to combat international trafficking in persons and to ensure that our government's response to all who are victimized by trafficking--whether foreign citizens or United States citizens--is one of deep compassion.