U.S. Dep't of State, 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Micronesia

MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF (Tier 2) The Government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore Micronesia remained on Tier 2. These efforts included administering training to its law enforcement officials, conducting awareness raising activities, initiating a trafficking investigation, and training shelter staff on shelter management. The government initiated development of an updated NAP.

However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Authorities did not assist any trafficking victims. For the second consecutive year, the government did not initiate any trafficking prosecutions or convict any traffickers. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Adopt and implement victim identification and referral SOPs, train stakeholders on their use, and proactively increase victim identification and screening, including among individuals in commercial sex, migrant workers, school-aged children, LGBTQI+ individuals, and provide them protection services. * Investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including those involving family members and complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Institutionalize anti-trafficking training for immigration officials, prosecutors, and state level judges, including on how to implement a victim-centered approach. * Expand efforts to raise awareness on all forms of human trafficking, particularly among traditional leaders, health care professionals, and vulnerable populations, including school-aged children and FSM citizens who might migrate for work overseas. * Establish an MOU between the national government and state governments to ensure trafficking victims identified by state governments can access services at the national level. * Improve coordination and communication between national and state government agencies and NGOs by regularizing national and state task force meetings and allocating resources to their activities. * Increase resources for protection services and collaborate with, and provide financial or in-kind support to, NGOs who assist trafficking victims. * Update and implement the NAP and state-level plans. * Monitor foreign labor recruitment for trafficking indicators, including the coercive use of debt. * Take steps to eliminate recruitment or placement fees charged to workers by labor recruiters and ensure any recruitment fees are paid by employers. * Provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign trafficking victims to countries where they may face hardship or retribution.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained law enforcement efforts. The national anti-trafficking law criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $5,000-$25,000, or both for crimes involving adult victims, and up to 30 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $5,000-$50,000, or both for crimes involving child victims. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regards to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties for other grave crimes, such as rape. Each of Micronesia’s four states had its own laws that criminalized trafficking crimes.

Cases prosecuted at the state level may be heard subsequently at the national level, under the national anti-trafficking law, depending on which court hears a case. The government initiated one trafficking investigation the same as in the previous reporting period. For the second consecutive year, authorities did not initiate any trafficking prosecutions or convict any traffickers. By the end of the reporting period, the government did not report an update to two prosecutions initiated in a prior reporting period by the national government and Pohnpei State government against a former government official charged with multiple counts, including sex trafficking under the Pohnpei State and national anti-trafficking laws.

The government did not report any other investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes. The FSM Anti-Human Trafficking Division under the FSM Department of Justice was the lead agency for national trafficking investigations and prosecutions. The government assigned a dedicated investigator who specialized in human trafficking to Yap increasing the dedicated investigators to four: one each in the four states of Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, and Yap. The national government provided anti-trafficking training to its judges, immigration officers, seaport and airport officers, state court representatives, and government officials on various anti-trafficking topics, including elements of human trafficking, victim identification, and the anti-trafficking law.

The government, in partnership with an international organization, provided week-long trainings to police cadets in the national and all four state governments’ police academies on various anti-trafficking topics, including victim identification and assistance. In the previous reporting period, observers stated national and state level police lacked sufficient training on trafficking crimes, to include labor trafficking, and investigative techniques. Widespread observance of customary justice practices; social stigmatization; lack of sufficient resources and funding; and law enforcement officials’ limited understanding of trafficking, including trafficking indicators and investigative techniques, hindered effective law enforcement activity. Police did not investigate or charge those who abetted trafficking crimes, such as hotel owners, taxi drivers, and family members.

In a prior reporting period, government officials reported the lack of personnel, resources, and funding impaired anti-trafficking monitoring efforts of labor or sex trafficking on vessels in Micronesian waters. The insular nature of the small island communities protected traffickers and impeded investigations. The government collaborated with foreign counterparts on trafficking investigations.

PROTECTION

The government maintained efforts to identify and protect victims. The government identified two potential trafficking victims, compared with identifying three sex trafficking victims in the previous reporting period. The national government did not report finalizing or implementing victim identification and referral SOPs developed in the previous reporting period. In addition, the draft SOPs did not contain adequate measures to screen for trafficking indicators among LGBTQI+ individuals.

Due to a lack of formal identification procedures, authorities may have deported some unidentified trafficking victims. Government officials lacked an understanding of trafficking indicators and readiness to assist foreign national trafficking victims; authorities lacked SOPs on how to refer to care foreign nationals who self-identify as a trafficking victim to law enforcement. The government did not assist or refer any victims to services, compared with one victim assisted and three victims referred in the previous reporting period. The government could provide shelter, transportation, food, protective services, education assistance, legal assistance, and counseling services, and it reported NGOs could provide additional services, including counseling, food, legal assistance, and shelter; the government did not report providing funding or in-kind resources to NGOs for these services.

The national government operated dedicated trafficking shelters in Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Yap. In July 2023, the government, in partnership with an international organization, trained shelter staff on shelter management. The government did not report an update to SOPs drafted in the previous reporting period for shelter management. The government sought input from survivors in its implementation of victim protection services.

In the previous reporting period, the government reported it did not provide victims with adequate access to mental health services and victim reintegration services, including employment services and job training programs. Civil society reported foreign victims faced language barriers and lacked awareness of available services to receive assistance. Trafficking victims identified on outer islands faced difficulty accessing services since services were exclusively located on main islands, primarily Pohnpei. National and state governments lacked an MOU to ensure trafficking victims identified by state governments could access services at the national level.

The government did not require victim participation in trafficking investigations or prosecutions; authorities reported no victims participated in investigations or prosecutions. The government reported some of the states’ judicial systems did not keep victim identities confidential due to the requirement to testify in court rather than utilizing written or video-recorded testimonies. The government did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign trafficking victims to countries where they may face hardship or retribution.

PREVENTION

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The AHTD, which included a lead coordinator and dedicated staff, coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The government provided the office with an annual budget of $125,000 for operations, including shelter management, the same as the previous reporting period. The national government and state governments each had anti-trafficking task forces comprising members of state and national government agencies, health care professionals, and civil society.

The government reported implementing its 2014 NAP, and three of the four states had action plans linked to the NAP. The government reported initiating development of an updated NAP. In the previous reporting period, observers noted a lack of information sharing between agencies as some government officials lacked general awareness of anti-trafficking efforts. The government conducted awareness raising activities targeting the public, school-aged children, civil society, private sector companies, and government officials.

The government continued to implement a policy requiring labor recruiters to register with the government before conducting recruitment; however, the government did not consistently enforce the policy and observers previously reported Kosrae State government was wholly unaware of the policy. The government did not allow migrant workers to change employers in a timely manner without obtaining special permissions, which may have resulted in workers remaining with exploitative employers. The AHTD operated a trafficking hotline available in English and local languages; the government did not report initiating any trafficking investigations or identifying any victims from calls to the hotline. The government did not report efforts to monitor foreign labor recruitment or provide information on safe migration and human trafficking indicators to Micronesian nationals leaving to work in other countries.

The government did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees, which may contribute to debt-based coercion among foreign workers. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in FSM, and traffickers exploit victims from FSM abroad. Fifty percent of workers are employed in the informal economy where labor laws are not enforced, increasing vulnerability to trafficking.

Climate-induced displacement significantly increases Micronesian nationals’ vulnerability to trafficking – particularly those living on low-lying outer islands – due to a loss of livelihood, shelter, or family stability. Traffickers use social media, phone applications, and online job advertisements to recruit victims. In the past, traffickers, including family members, exploited Micronesian women and girls in sex trafficking through commercial sex in hotels, restaurants, and with the crewmembers of docked Asian fishing vessels, crewmembers on vessels in FSM territorial waters, or foreign construction workers. In a prior reporting period, there were reports of taxi drivers facilitating child sex trafficking.

In the previous reporting period, authorities claimed many sex trafficking cases are unreported due to social stigma and victims’ fear of possible repercussions in their home communities. LGBTQI+ individuals, unhoused individuals, and individuals in commercial sex are vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers exploit Micronesian and foreign nationals in forced labor on fishing vessels operating in Micronesia’s territorial waters. When foreign nationals exploited on fishing vessels come into port, language barriers often inhibit their ability to seek assistance.

Traffickers, including family members, recruit FSM women and men with promises of well-paying jobs in the United States and its territories but, upon their arrival, they are subsequently forced into commercial sex, domestic servitude, or forced labor. On This Page search > < MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Human Trafficking Micronesia Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports