*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

Committee on International Relations
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations

WHO:             Ms. Julia Ormond – Hollywood Movie Actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the

Abolition of Slavery and Human Trafficking UN Office on Drugs and Crime

The Honorable John Miller - Director of the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons, US State Department. 

Ms. Sharon Cohn - Vice President of Interventions – International Justice Mission

                        Ms. Irina Veselykh – Russian Trafficking Victim

Ms. Masha Gnezdilova – Russian Trafficking Victim

Mr. Charles Kernagan – Director – National Labor Committee

WHAT:           Modern-Day Slavery: Spotlight on the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report, and Sex Trafficking at the World Cup                             
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations

                        U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Chairman

WHERE:         2172 Rayburn House Office Building

WHEN:           Wednesday, June 14, 2006
                        11:00 PM

BACKGROUND:  This public meeting will spotlight the new 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report introduced last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  The subcommittee will hear from Hollywood actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Ms. Julia Ormond as well as Ambassador John Miller, director of the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State.  Among the many regions underscored in the report, Africa ranked last in trafficking convictions.  Although Germany received a Tier 1 ranking, the TIP report made special note of the concern that legal prostitution in Germany could lead to more trafficking of women and children during the World Cup.

On Friday, June 9^th, the World Cup opened in cities across Germany.  The championship soccer tournament, held once every four years, brings teams, fans, and spectators from all over the world to participate in the games. Many German cities rushed to issue special permits for street prostitution, linking the government to the brothel owners, pimps and traffickers.  The subcommittee will hear from two Russian trafficking victims: Ms. Masha Gnezdilova and Ms. Irina Veselykh, as well as Ms. Sharon Cohn, Vice President of Interventions, International Justice Mission.

This focus of this public meeting – Modern-Day Slavery: Spotlight on the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report, and Sex Trafficking at the World Cup-- is to examine the newly released 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report, and continuing to examine sex trafficking in connection with the World Cup.