Since 2004, Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith has served as the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative for Human Trafficking Issues. His 2017 winter report to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly regarding his activities as the Special Representative provides an overview of his meetings with government representatives of OSCE participating States and with the representatives of governments whose citizens are trafficked in participating States.
In addition, the report covers implementation of newly enacted best practices in the United States, such as the International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advance Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders, which resulted in 1,780 notifications to 64 countries in 2016, and a new bilateral agreement with Slovakia, in addition to an existing agreement in place with the United Kingdom.
Along with descriptions of other pending anti-trafficking bills authored by Rep. Smith, the report also explains the upcoming reauthorization of U.S. anti-trafficking law with the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention Act of 2017. In particular, the 2017 law will contain sections reflecting the supplementary items adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly as well as the 2013 Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, such as better oversight of government procurement to prevent purchase of goods tainted by human trafficking, and training for flight personnel and the hotel industry to identify and properly report suspected cases of human trafficking.
Finally, the report provides overviews of the seven hearings Rep. Smith chaired last year that addressed human trafficking in whole or in part. The report also provides an overview of the 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), produced by the U.S. Department of State, as required by Rep. Smith’s previous trafficking legislation. The TIP Report shows that the OSCE had gains in prosecutions and convictions in 2015 and eight new or amended pieces of anti-trafficking legislation, but a decline in trafficking victim identification.
