Jada Pinkett Smith, right, accompanied by her actor husband Will Smith, and their daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith, left, testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on "The Next Ten Years in the Fight Against Human Trafficking: Attacking the Problem with the Right Tools" on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Jada Pinkett Smith, right, accompanied by her actor husband Will Smith, and their daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith, left, testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on "The Next Ten Years in the Fight Against Human Trafficking: Attacking the Problem with the Right Tools" on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Actor Will Smith, accompanying his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, not in picture, smiles as he is acknowledged in the hearing room by committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee on "The Next Ten Years in the Fight Against Human Trafficking: Attacking the Problem with the Right Tools" on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Actor Will Smith, and his daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith, accompanying Jada Pinkett Smith, not in picture, testifying in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about human trafficking, communicate in whisper, on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Jada Pinkett Smith, accompanied by her actor husband Will Smith, testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on "The Next Ten Years in the Fight Against Human Trafficking: Attacking the Problem with the Right Tools" on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Actress and activist Jada Pinkett Smith urged Congress on Tuesday to step up the fight against human trafficking in the U.S. and abroad.
The actress testified during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that she plans to launch a campaign to raise awareness and spur action against human trafficking and slavery. She said the "old monster" of slavery "is still with us," almost 150 years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the U.S.
"Fighting slavery doesn't cost a lot of money. The costs of allowing it to exist in our nation and abroad are much higher," the actress said. "It robs us of the thing we value most, our freedom."
She said the issue was brought to her attention by her daughter Willow, 11, who sat nearby with actor Will Smith, Pinkett Smith's husband and Willow's father. The Smiths all wore blazers over T-shirts that read, "Free Slaves." The hearing room was filled mostly with young people, some trying to take photos of the famous family.
With her father's arm around her, Willow remained attentive to her mother's testimony and often whispered to her father. At least 30 minutes into the hearing, Will wrapped his gray blazer around Willow.
The actress called for an extension of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which provides funding to combat trafficking and help trafficking victims. The act also created a task force, chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, which coordinates among federal agencies to implement policies against human trafficking.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., pledged to try to gather bipartisan congressional support to further fund the act.
The State Department estimates that at least 14,500 people are trafficked to the U.S. annually.
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