Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening today’s hearing on this critically important issue.

Modern-day trafficking in persons is a heinous crime against human dignity, and a key source of income for international criminal enterprises.

Somewhere around eight-hundred-thousand people are trafficked across international borders every year.  Of that number, it is estimated that 80 percent are women, and half are children.

These figures do not include the millions of people who are trafficked within countries, and the mere numbers do not convey the horrors and human tragedies that lay behind them.

In Iran, children are trafficked into sexual slavery, and forced into involuntary servitude as beggars and day laborers. 

Iranian girls are trafficked into Pakistan and numerous other countries where they are sexually exploited.

In Syria, women trafficked from South and Southeast Asia are forced to work as domestic servants, and women from Eastern Europe and Iraq are forced into prostitution.

In our Hemisphere, Cuba has been shamefully promoted as a destination for sexual tourism that exploits large numbers of Cuban girls and boys, some as young as 12.

The Government of Venezuela has not made any anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts in the past year, even though women and children trafficked from numerous countries are exploited for sex and forced labor within Venezuela.

As noted in House Concurrent Resolution 234, recently introduced by Mr. Royce and which I am proud to have co-sponsored, up to 90 percent of North Korean refugee women fall prey to traffickers in China who sell the refugees into sexual slavery.

In Burma, the failed and abusive policies of the ruling military junta are substantially responsible for that country’s heartbreaking trafficking problems, which have subjected countless Burmese to forced labor and prostitution.

I am proud of the leading role that the House and this Committee, and especially our Chairman, have played in moving the fight against human trafficking from a “non-issue” to a priority of the United States Government.

I especially want to commend the leadership of my good friend from New Jersey, Mr. Smith, the author of the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which became law years ago.

I was pleased to cosponsor the Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act introduced by Mr. Smith this past January. 

Mr. Chairman, I understand that you are drafting a new reauthorization bill and I look forward to working with you and all our colleagues in the days ahead to achieve a measure that enjoys broad bipartisan support.

Thankfully, there have been small signs of progress, as more countries adopt anti-trafficking legislation and make genuine efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers.

But the problems remain widespread. 

The number of countries listed in Tier 3, the most problematic category in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, has increased since last year – from 12 to 16.

I have questions about the wisdom of the so-called Tier 2 “Watch List,” which was not part of the original statutory framework.

Although being placed on the “Watch List” is supposed to be a warning to problem countries that they are about to slip to Tier 3, it is hard to take those warnings seriously when countries like China, and Russia sit on the “Watch List” year after year after year, without further consequences.

The Watch List must not become a way of avoiding difficult decisions.

In addition, as pointed out in recent GAO reports, there is room for improvement in the coordination and monitoring of U.S.-funded anti-trafficking efforts abroad.

So, I look forward to hearing from the expert witnesses before us today.

I regret that the Administration was not invited to participate at today’s hearing, which would have enriched our discussion.

As with the human rights reports hearing in March of this year, I believe we would only benefit from following the longstanding precedent of having the Administration roll-out the Congressionally-mandated annual report before engaging the expertise of private witnesses.

Turning to our private panel, I want to note how fortunate I am to have in my own district an institution so fundamentally committed to the fight against human trafficking.

The St. Thomas University School of Law and its Human Rights Institute have been active both on the policy side – as a motivating force behind the 2005 “Miami Declaration of Principles on Human Trafficking” – and on the personal side, providing services to victims of trafficking in South Florida.

I am honored to join the Chairman in welcoming the President of the University and Chairman of its Human Rights Institute, Monsignor Franklyn Casale, to the Committee today.

I thank all of the witnesses for being here, and look forward to your testimony.