Topeka ? Chad Bettes, the spokesman for Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, is leaving for a job in Washington, D.C., where he will serve as the public affairs officer for a federal office charged with trying to stop the modern slave trade.

“It’s the chance of a lifetime,” Bettes said. “President Bush believes this is the human rights issue of the 21st century.”

Bettes, 29, a lifelong Shawnee resident, is a graduate of Kansas University, receiving his master’s degree in journalism in 1999.

Since then, he has been involved in Republican Party politics and Johnson County civic organizations.

He worked as press secretary in Kline’s unsuccessful 2000 race for Congress.

In May, Bettes joined Kline’s staff as public information officer. In that position, he has put together news releases and answered reporters’ questions.

An acquaintance of his in Washington politics recommended him for the State Department job in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

“I have gotten the opportunity to work on crime and safety issues with Attorney General Kline. Now, I will take it to a larger scale and help women and children and others who are in deplorable conditions without human rights,” Bettes said.

Bettes said the federal government believes between 800,000 and 900,000 people per year are trafficked across international borders and forced or coerced into labor or exploited sexually.

“It’s a profitable crime, so the government has a lot to tackle,” he said.

And, Bettes said, the United States is not immune from the crime, with estimates ranging that upwards of 20,000 people are brought to the country each year and trapped in slavelike labor conditions.

The Bush administration has said it wanted to link foreign assistance to countries based on their efforts in combating human trafficking.