WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today praised House passage of the Smith/Gejdenson Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (H.R. 3244).

"Today the House passed legislation which will combat the trafficking of women and children for the sex trade," Brownback said. "It's time to challenge this evil practice, and I believe this legislation is a first step to gaining freedom for those who are bound.

"International sex trafficking is the new slavery. It includes all the elements associated with slavery, including: abduction from family and home; being taken to a foreign land with an unfamiliar language; loss of identity and freedom; forced labor with no pay; subjection to frequent beatings and rapes; having no defense against one's captors; and eventually dying early because of this criminal abuse. Adding to this calamity, the victims are often very young - having their entire life stolen in such a brutal way," Brownback said.

Brownback last month introduced legislation, The International Anti-Trafficking Act of 2000 (S. 2449), which is similar to The Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

There is presently no comprehensive plan to 'penalize the full range of offenses' involved in elaborate trafficking networks. But the Brownback bill does that. Some of the provisions include: establishment of an Interagency Task Force to monitor and combat trafficking; enhanced reporting by the State Department on this practice; protection and assistance for victims of trafficking; immigration changes allowing victims to testify in prosecutions; strengthening prosecution and punishment of traffickers.

The international forced sex trade involves over 700,000 women and children annually, who are transported across international borders and forced into prostitution. The State Department estimates that about 50,000 women and children are trafficked into America each year for this purpose.

Brownback has chaired two hearings on this issue as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, on February 22 and April 4.