Human trafficking in the Federated States of Micronesia

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In 2010, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) was a source country for women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution in the United States and the U.S. territory of Guam, and was reportedly a destination for women from China forced into commercial sexual exploitation. The FSM may have been a destination country for a few men and women from other Pacific nations who were subjected to conditions of forced labor. Micronesian sex trafficking victims from the state of Chuuk have been identified in Guam and the United States. In one case, 10 young women from the state of Chuuk were lured to Guam by a Micronesian recruiter with promises of well-paying jobs in the service and hospitality sectors. Upon arrival in Guam, the women were forced to engage in prostitution. A physically and mentally disabled young woman from Chuuk was rescued from forced prostitution in Hawaii during 2009. [1]

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Very little data on human trafficking in FSM was available as the government made no effort to proactively identify victims despite its history as a source country for victims. The government had not conducted any inquiries, investigations, studies, or surveys on human trafficking. [1]

In 2010 the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however it is making significant efforts to do so. In 2009, the government made no discernible efforts to proactively identify victims, prevent future trafficking incidents by educating the public about the dangers of trafficking, or investigate and prosecute suspected trafficking offenses; the Federated States of Micronesia was therefore placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year. The government did, however, provide some police and immigration officials with trafficking awareness training. [1] The country was placed at Tier 2 in 2023. [2]

The country ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in November 2011. [3]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index noted that the country had limited support for victims. [4]

Prosecution (2010)

The Government of the Federated States of Micronesia made no discernible progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The government did not take steps to investigate, prosecute or punish any suspected trafficking offenders during the reporting period. The FSM national police would have jurisdiction over transnational trafficking crimes, although no specific or comprehensive federal laws prohibit forms of human trafficking such as slavery, forced labor, or forced prostitution. Each of the four states could prosecute trafficking offenses under related laws. Penalties for trafficking offenses under these laws range from five to 10 years’ imprisonment and are sufficiently stringent. Officials received no reports of trafficking cases during this reporting period. The Police Academy featured training on recognizing trafficking victims, as well as the difference between human trafficking and alien smuggling. The Academy also discussed trafficking interdiction techniques. No formal plan to act on the training is currently in place. A foreign government provided anti-trafficking training to the Transnational Crime Unit (TCU) as part of its overall support of the TCU’s activities. The TCU, part of the Pacific Transnational Crime network, remained the main conduit for general law enforcement information coming from international sources. Law enforcement agencies operated under significant resource, personnel, and capacity constraints. There was no evidence of official complicity in trafficking crimes, or of government involvement in or tolerance of trafficking on a local or institutional level. [1]

Protection (2010)

During the reporting period, the government made no apparent efforts to proactively identify potential trafficking victims, and did not take steps to develop or implement formal or informal procedures to refer identified or suspected trafficking victims for appropriate services. During the year, FSM officials did not receive reports from other sources of any trafficking victims within the country’s borders, and did not, to their knowledge, provide services to any victims of trafficking. Identified or suspected trafficking victims would have access to the very limited social services and legal assistance provided by government agencies to any victim of crime. No NGOs knowingly provided services to any victims of trafficking crimes independently or in cooperation with the government. FSM has no laws specifically protecting trafficking victims or witnesses. While no specific civil remedy for trafficking victims is spelled out in the state or national codes, each state’s code does provide general redress for personal injuries caused by another. Victims may bring personal injury civil suits against traffickers, although no suits have ever been filed. The law did not provide specific legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they faced hardship or retribution. Judges, however, have the discretion to issue an order allowing any foreign victims of crime to remain in the country. [1]

Prevention (2010)

The government made minimal efforts to prevent trafficking or increase the public’s awareness of trafficking risks in FSM and the region during the reporting period. Evidence and anecdotal reports suggest that the current number of internal or transnational trafficking victims is relatively low; the government’s limited resources were thus often directed to meet more emergent priorities. Immigration authorities claim to look for evidence of trafficking at ports of entry. Upper-level managers at the Division of Immigration and Labor attended seminars that discussed trafficking. The government did initiate anti-trafficking training for new police recruits in the last two police academy classes. In May 2009, the former FSM Ambassador to the United States was convicted of selling sample FSM passports maintained at the Embassy in Washington D.C. for personal financial gain, and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and a fine. Although authorities have not yet shown that the case clearly involved the transnational movement of trafficking victims, the former Ambassador was facilitating the illegal cross-border movement of irregular migrants from populations throughout the region that are consistently identified as trafficking victims. FSM supports no anti-trafficking task forces or working groups. The government conducted no campaigns aimed at reducing the demand for commercial sex acts. Micronesia is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. [1]

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The Bahamas ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2008.

In 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina was primarily a source for Bosnian women and girls who were subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution within the country, though it was also a destination and transit country for foreign women and girls in forced prostitution in Bosnia and Western Europe. There were four identified victims from Serbia in 2009. Most trafficked women entered the country through Serbia or Montenegro. There were reports that some girls, particularly Roma, were trafficked, using forced marriage, for the purpose of involuntary domestic servitude, and that Roma boys and girls were subjected to forced begging by organized groups. There was one case involving Bosnian males recruited for labor and subjected to coercive conditions in Azerbaijan in 2009. NGO's report that traffickers frequently use intermediaries to bring clients to private apartments, motels, and gas stations where victims are held.

Botswana ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in August 2002.

In 2010 St. Vincent and the Grenadines was a source country for some children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically for the purpose of sexual exploitation within the country; it may also have been a destination country for women in forced prostitution and men in forced labour. Reporting suggested that Vincentian children may have participated in commercial sexual exploitation to supplement their families’ income. In these situations, parents, relatives, or other care-givers receive in-kind or financial compensation or other benefited from a child engaging in sexual activities. Reporting suggested the number of victims trafficked in, to, or through St. Vincent and the Grenadines was comparatively small. Information on the extent of human trafficking in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, however, was lacking, as the government conducted no related investigations, studies, or surveys.

Eswatini formerly known as Swaziland, a country located in Southern Africa is a source, destination, and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, and forced labor in agriculture. Swazi girls, particularly orphans, are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude in the cities of Mbabane and Manzini, as well as in South Africa and Mozambique.

Trinidad and Tobago ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in November 2007.

Rwanda ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea</span>

In 2009, Papua New Guinea was a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Women and children were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude; trafficked men were forced to provide labor in logging and mining camps. Children, especially young girls from tribal areas, were most vulnerable to being pushed into commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor by members of their immediate family or tribe. Families traditionally sold girls into forced marriages to settle their debts, leaving them vulnerable to involuntary domestic servitude, and tribal leaders trade the exploitative labor and service of girls and women for guns and political advantage. Young girls sold into marriage were often forced into domestic servitude for the husband's extended family. In more urban areas, some children from poorer families were prostituted by their parents or sold to brothels. Migrant women and teenage girls from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines were subjected to forced prostitution, and men from China were transported to the country for forced labor.

In 2009, Paraguay was a source and transit country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically sex trafficking, as well as a source and transit country for men, women, and children in forced labor. Most Paraguayan trafficking victims were found in Argentina, Spain, and Bolivia; fewer victims were exploited in Brazil, Chile, France, South Korea, and Japan. In one case, 44 suspected Paraguayan trafficking victims were detained at the international airport in Amsterdam, and Dutch authorities arrested the alleged trafficking offender. In another case, 13 Paraguayan women were found in conditions of forced prostitution in a brothel in La Paz, Bolivia. Paraguay was a destination country for 30 Indonesian orphans, who were allegedly brought into the country for a long-term soccer camp, but who the government suspects are trafficking victims.

Kiribati ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2005.

Lesotho ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.

Human trafficking in the Gambia covers ongoing activities in trafficking women and children in the Gambia as forced labor and prostitution.

North Macedonia ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in January 2005.

In 2009 Brunei was a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men and women who were subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Men and women from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand migrated to Brunei for domestic or other low-skilled labor but sometimes faced conditions of involuntary servitude upon arrival. There were over 88,000 migrant workers in Brunei, some of whom faced debt bondage, non-payment of wages, passport confiscation, confinement to the home, and contract switching - factors that may contribute to trafficking. There were credible reports of nationals from South Asian countries subjected to nonpayment of wages and debt bondage in Brunei for up to two years to pay back foreign recruitment agents. Some of the 25,000 female domestic workers in Brunei were required to work exceptionally long hours without being granted a day for rest, creating an environment consistent with involuntary servitude. There are reports of women forced into prostitution in Brunei, and reports that women arrested for prostitution attest to having been victims of trafficking. Brunei is a transit country for trafficking victims in Malaysia, including Filipinas, who are brought to Brunei for work permit re-authorization before being returned to Malaysia.

In 2009 Cameroon was a country of origin, transit, and destination for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, and a country of origin for women in forced labor. Individual trafficking operations usually involved the trafficking of two or three children at most, as when rural parents handed over their children to a seemingly benevolent middleman who may promise education and a better life in the city. A 2007 study conducted by the Cameroon government reported that 2.4 million children from Cameroon’s ten regions involuntarily work in forced domestic servitude, street vending, and child prostitution, or in hazardous settings, including mines and tea or cocoa plantations, where they are treated as adult labourers. An unknown number of these children are trafficking victims.

Human trafficking in the Ivory Coast referred to the practice of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation which used Côte d'Ivoire a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who were trafficked for these purposes.

Denmark ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.

In 2009, Fiji was a source country for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution within the country, as well as a destination country for women from China in forced prostitution. Family members, other Fijian citizens, foreign tourists, and sailors on foreign fishing vessels participated in the commercial sexual exploitation of Fijian children. Staff at smaller, local hotels procured underaged girls and boys for commercial sexual exploitation by foreign guests, while taxi drivers, nightclub employees, and relatives frequently acted as prostitution facilitators. NGO's report caring for child victims of prostitution who claim facilitators took them to private boats anchored offshore near Fiji where they were sexually abused or raped by foreign adult men. Reports indicated that some transnational traffickers were members of Chinese organized crime groups that recruited women from China and arrange for them to enter Fiji on tourist or student visas. After their arrival, brothel owners confiscated their passports and forced the women to engage in prostitution. Some Fijian children whose families follow a traditional practice of sending children to live with and do light work for relatives or families living in cities or near schools became trafficking victims. These children were subjected to involuntary domestic servitude or were coerced to engage in sexual activity in exchange for food, clothing, shelter, or school fees.

Women, and children from Eastern Europe, West Africa, and Asia, as well as the Caribbean and Brazil, subjected to trafficking in persons, forced prostitution and forced labor. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017. Women and children, many from Africa, continued to be subjected to forced domestic servitude. Often their "employers" are diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity from prosecution, including those from Saudi Arabia. Reportedly men from North Africa are subjected to forced labor in the agricultural and construction sectors in southern France. The Government of France estimates that the majority of the 18,000 women in France's commercial sex trade are likely forced into prostitution. It also estimates a significant number of children in France are victims of forced prostitution, primarily from Romania, West Africa, and North Africa. Romani and other unaccompanied minors in France continued to be vulnerable to forced begging. There were reportedly six French women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009.

The Federated States of Micronesia is a United States Associated State consisting of 4 states across the Western Pacific Ocean. The estimated population in 2015 was 105,216. Formerly the FSM was a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) but in 1979 formed its own constitutional government. FSM has a written constitution which took effect in 1979 and has been amended only once in 1990. By virtue of membership in the United Nations, the FSM abides by the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Key human rights concerns in FSM include judicial delays, government corruption, discrimination against women, domestic violence and child neglect.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 Country Narratives - Countries G Through M". US Department of State. 2010-06-18. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2023-02-12.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
  3. United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
  4. Organised Crime Index website, Micronesia: 2023