There's been real movement during the past year or so, Smith says. South Korea and Israel in particular have moved aggressively to avoid sanctions. South Korea shut down 660 brothels recently and ended its "entertainment visa," which was used by mobsters to bring women into the country. The U.S. military has cooperated by working harder to keep U.S. soldiers stationed there from soliciting prostitutes. According to Smith, Russian women were being held at a brothel just yards away from the entrance to Camp Casey near the DMZ.
Russia, meanwhile, is on the verge of passing into law anti-trafficking legislation almost identical to the 2000 bill in the United States. Smith's office translated the bill into Russian, and it is expected to be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. All of this shows that U.S. pressure works. "There has been a learning curve within the State Department itself that this is a priority, and that we have real leverage," says Smith, who has a bill pending to reauthorize and strengthen the anti-trafficking bill this year.
If the Bush administration had a slow start in emphasizing the importance of the issue of trafficking, Bush's U.N. speech makes it clear to everyone that it is a priority, providing more impetus to the cause. "Women are being saved every day," says Smith. Think of them the next time you hear someone complain of the evils of Bush's assertive foreign policy.