Chris Smith

What I need, what Eslam needs, what Gabriel and Anastasia need, what all of our children kidnapped abroad need is every representative of our Government to take every opportunity as it arises to put our children first.

I hope and pray that all of your children of all the left-behind parents are returned as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Chairman Smith, for this opportunity today and your continuing efforts to address this form of human rights violation.

I thank you for coming here to share with the subcommittee, to the Congress, and I hope the executive branch as well.

If we use them, use them judiciously I think we will see a much sharper response from each of these countries and the net beneficiaries will be these American children and their agonizing left-behind parents.

You could designate Japan tomorrow, if you'd like, based on the record, a reappraisal that it's a country that has persistently failed and therefore it's a pattern of noncompliance because it really is.

I would just make the strongest appeal that as you look at part two, the sanctions regime because they are stale and toothless if they're not employed.

And being critical. I mean----

It has been my experience 36 years as a Member of Congress that when it comes to human rights even of our own citizens, very often other issues have a way of crowding out that concern.

It's in the law about the MOU and Congress wants this.

It's time to say we've got tools--we're going to use them.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which I also wrote, has strong, strong implementation factors to it.

I can guarantee I will be at their door--I won't be the only one--saying that we got to make Goldman work.

I think without it we'll be back here next year and the year after that and the year after that talking about maybe a diminishing number of cases from countries but only because individual children will have aged-out or perhaps the parents…

I have a big difference of opinion with the administration on this but I hope it'll be revisited.

Ms. Christensen, thank you very much for your testimony and I do agree that this year's report is certainly more readable and I thank you for that.

Child abduction is child abuse and continues to plague families across the United States and across the world.

I want to commend the Department for a myriad of efforts it has undertaken on the prevention side.

We respect India, but solve these cases.

I think it was a horrific decision politically motivated, and my hope is that they will revisit it even before next year because it was a mistake to give a passing grade to a country where sex and labor trafficking flourishes.

I would have hoped you would have raised his case.

I think we've seen greater political openness, and greater political debate, and greater access to and sharing of information in the last several years than we have seen in previous decades.

I think what's important, my second point here, is that there is a process of change going on on the island itself.

There are violations of freedom of speech and freedom of association. There's only one legal political party on the island.

Since December 17, we've made what I think is a healthy shift to a policy of engagement that over time is far more likely to make a real difference in the human rights situation in Cuba.