|
Smith Relentless in Fight Against Trafficking |
||
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the second time in just over a week, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) convened a hearing on “Our need to examine this problem of human trafficking in the context of the Department of Defense (DOD) arises from the fact that prostitution has historically coexisted alongside large populations of military forces. This is a problem for all militaries—not just the American military. In recent years, NGOs and the press have reported women being forced into prostitution for a clientele consisting of military service members, government contracts, and international peacekeepers,” Smith stated. Smith, the author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and the TVPA Reauthorizations Acts of 2003 and 2005 said that his focus on the U.S. military began in 2002 upon learning of an investigation of U.S. troops in South Korea patronizing bars and other establishments where women from the Philippines and the former Soviet states were trafficked and forced to prostitute themselves. Rep. Smith requested the DOD Inspector General to undertake investigations in “Over the past half-dozen years, such evils have been documented in “It is reprehensible that any person with a responsibility to protect civilians in a destabilized region or to promote the rule of law would participate in prostitution or otherwise encourage human trafficking,” said Smith. Smith, has also recently convened multiple hearings on human trafficking in connection to the soccer World Cup currently being held in Testimony was given at the hearing by The Honorable John Miller, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, U.S. Department of State; Colonel Robert Boyles, Former Principal Assistant, Joint Contracting Command in Iraq and Afghanistan, Department of Defense; Mrs. Gail McGinn, Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Department of Defense; and Mr. Thomas Gimble, Principal Deputy Inspector General, Department of Defense. | ||
### | ||
For Immediate Release: June 21, 2006 Contact: Ryan Goodwin (202) 225-3765 |
||
| ||