April 23, 2015 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E563 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANS- quired to significantly raise their tier rankings. decimate the female population, creating a FORMATION: TIER RANKINGS IN Some countries openly credit the TIP Report vacuum for sex and bride trafficking in China THE FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN for their increased and effective anti-trafficking as males confronted with a sentence of life- TRAFFICKING response and look to us for examples of how time bachelorhood seek to obtain a mate. to do even better. Last year, for example, I And despite a much-ballyhooed November HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH was invited by the speaker of Peru’s unicam- 2013 government announcement of a relax- OF NEW JERSEY eral congress to address legislators on how to ation of the one-child policy that affects only a IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES protect victims of trafficking, meeting also with small subset of the population, this fig leaf will prosecutors, members of a multi-agency task not do enough to correct the gender imbal- Thursday, April 23, 2015 force, victims and those who provide for vic- ance in China. Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I tims. Last summer, a local official at the Mid-Year recently held a hearing on the importance of The Tier 2 Watch List was created in the Family Planning Work Meeting in Chongqing accountability in the annual Trafficking in Per- 2003 TVPA reauthorization and I also au- municipality noted that ‘‘the intensity of family sons Report—the State Department’s biggest thored to encourage good-faith anti-trafficking planning work has not diminished.’’ And the opportunity of the year to prod countries to progress in a country that may have taken evidence of coercive enforcement continues to fight human trafficking with greater effect, positive anti-trafficking steps late in the eval- emerge. greater efficiency and greater effort. uation year. Unfortunately, some countries The U.N. Committee on Economic, Social There are some twenty plus million people made a habit of last-minute efforts and failed and Cultural Rights, following its May 2014 re- around the globe who live in sex or labor slav- to follow through year-after-year, effectively view of China, noted that it was ‘‘seriously ery today. gaming the system. concerned about reported instances of the use When one hears such a figure—over twenty To protect the integrity of the tier system of coercive measures, including forced abor- million people—one’s eyes begin to glaze and ensure it works properly to inspire tion and forced sterilization, with a view to lim- over, as a number of such magnitude be- progress, Congress in 2008 created an auto- iting births.’’ comes an abstraction. There is a cynical say- matic downgrade for any country that had This is unacceptable. ing, attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, been on a Tier 2 Watch List for 2 years but Approximately 40 million women and girls that ‘‘the death of one man is a tragedy. The had not taken significant effort enough to are missing from the population—and China’s death of millions is a statistic.’’ Stalin knew move up a tier. birth limitation policy continues to increase that that many would shrug their shoulders and The President can waive the automatic number—making China a regional magnet for avert their gaze. downgrade for an additional 2 years if he has sex and bride trafficking of women from neigh- But we must never allow such cynicism to certified ’’credible evidence’’ that the country boring countries such as Burma, Cambodia, obscure the fact that each of those twenty mil- has a written and sufficiently resourced plan Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea. lion persons is a human being with inherent, that, if implemented, would constitute signifi- Indeed, an estimated 90 percent of North God-given dignity. Each one is a child that cant efforts to meet the minimum standards. Korean women seeking asylum in China are suffers from beatings and abuse, a woman In 2013, the first test of the new system, trafficked as brides. And yet China does not raped, a man who labors in the field as a China, Russia, and Uzbekistan ran out of take responsibility for the government-made slave—all for the commercial gain of others. waivers and moved to Tier 3, which accurately disaster and provide these women with aid. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report, reflected their records. Rather, China denies these women refugee required by the landmark Trafficking Victims In the 2014 reporting cycle, only Thailand status and sends them back to punishment in Protection Action of 2000 (TVPA)—legislation and Malaysia were auto-downgraded, out of North Korea—punishments that far too often which I authored—ensures that countries mak- six countries. Russia and Uzbekistan retained include execution. ing anti-trafficking efforts a priority are praised their Tier 3 downgrades from the previous Yet we gave China a pass, turning our and supported, while countries that ignore the year—but China was upgraded from Tier 3 to backs on these suffering women. cries of the enslaved are justly shamed, and the Tier 2 Watch List. But Asia is not the only place where there considered for sanctions. I am very concerned that China fooled the are victims of trafficking. The hearing also The success of the TIP Report and rankings State Department, which seemed to believe looked at three African countries that must be is beyond anything we could have hoped for. that China was abolishing its re-education automatically downgraded unless they signifi- From presidential suites and the halls of par- through labor camps rather than simply re- cantly improved efforts to fight human traf- liaments, to police stations in remote corners naming the camps and continuing the practice. ficking in 2014: Burundi, Comoros, and An- of the world, this report focuses anti-trafficking The Congressional-Executive Commission on gola. work in 187 countries on the pivotal principles China reported that in 2013, Chinese authori- The shared tragedy of these countries is of prevention of trafficking, prosecution of the ties increasingly used ‘‘other forms of arbitrary that it is their children who are being traf- traffickers, and protection of the victims. and administrative detention such as Legal ficked. Chinese nationals in Angola exploit the Each year the trafficking office at the De- Education Centers, Custody and Education Angolan children in construction, rice farming, partment of State evaluates whether a govern- Centers, ‘black jails,’ and compulsory drug de- and brick making. ment of a country is fully compliant with the toxification centers.’’ In Comoros, poor families place their chil- minimum standards for the elimination of Moreover, the Commission reported that in dren with wealthy relatives, who then exploit human trafficking or, if not, whether the gov- November 2014, the Deputy Director of Chi- them in domestic servitude. ernment is making significant efforts to do so. na’s Ministry of Justice said at a press con- Similarly, in Burundi, family members some- The record is laid bare for the world to see ference that the ‘‘vast majority’’ of China’s [re- times profit from the prostitution of children and summarized in a tier rankings narrative. education through labor] facilities have been with tourists or, according to the State Depart- Tier 1 countries fully meet the minimum stand- converted to compulsory drug detox centers. ment, ‘‘teachers, police officers, and gen- ards. Tier 2 countries do not meet the min- The China Commission believes that these darme, military and prison officials.’’ imum standards, but are making significant ef- compulsory drug detox centers force detain- In 2013, as automatic downgrade loomed, forts to do so. Tier 3 countries do not meet the ees to do labor, as do the Custody and Edu- the President of Comoros finally admitted his standards and are not making significant ef- cation Centers. country had a trafficking issue and the Na- forts to do so—and, indeed, may be subject to If true—and I believe it is—then the Chinese tional Assembly changed the penal code. An- sanctions. government is directly involved in human traf- gola and Burundi have also amended their Over the last 14 years, more than 100 coun- ficking and profiting from it. penal codes while on the Watch List. tries have enacted anti-trafficking laws, and The Chinese Government also continues, Aggressive implementation of these anti- many countries have taken other steps re- through its one-child birth limitation policy, to trafficking laws would keep them off Tier 3, as ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Apr 24, 2015 Jkt 049060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 9920 E:\CR\FM\K23AP8.001 E23APPT1 smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with REMARKS E564 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks April 23, 2015 well as protect children from trafficking. I ear- would listen the measures they were taking to tal quickly became known as the knowledge- nestly hope implementation has been a pri- mitigate this terrible crime. And both of those able and friendly face who helped thousands ority. countries got off Tier 3 when they backed of candidates navigate their way through the The Southeast Asia region continues to words with substantive action. candidate filing process. Crystal also served struggle with particularly acute and entrenched Rather than alienating them, the exercise as a Passport Acceptance Agent and a Dep- human trafficking.