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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the hands of traffickers

Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025                              gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Micronesia.htm

Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)

Economic activity consists primarily of subsistence farming and fishing. The islands have few mineral deposits worth exploiting, except for high-grade phosphate. The potential for a tourist industry exists, but the remote location, a lack of adequate facilities, and limited air connections hinder development.

The country's medium-term economic outlook appears fragile due not only to the reduction in US assistance but also to the current slow growth of the private sector.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Description: Description: Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a source country for some women trafficked to Guam for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, and possibly a destination for women from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. The FSM may be a destination country for a few men and women from other Pacific nations trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009   Check out aa later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Micronesia.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

 

HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular interest to you.  Would you like to write about Forced-Labor?  Debt Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to the subject of Trafficking.  Scan other countries as well.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Micronesia

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/micronesia/

[accessed 17 June 2021]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor. The government effectively enforced the law, although resources and inspections were minimal.

PROHIBITION OF CHILD LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT

There was no employment of children for wages, but children often assisted their families in subsistence farming and family-owned shops. There were reports of children trafficked by family members for commercial sex, particularly to foreign fishermen and other seafarers.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/micronesia/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 8 July 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

Forced labor is prohibited, and the government enforces basic standards for working conditions in the formal sector. Foreign migrant workers nevertheless remain vulnerable to exploitative labor practices, including on foreign fishing vessels in FSM waters, and some Micronesian women are reportedly trafficked for sexual exploitation. The US State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report noted that Micronesia had increased efforts to prosecute human traffickers, but it nevertheless remained a pervasive problem in the country, and victim-identification and protection services were limited. In October 2019, the Yap state acting attorney general, Rachelle Bergeron, was shot and killed, allegedly in connection with her work cracking down on human trafficking ring on the island.

In March 2019, a Supreme Court judge convicted two men of human trafficking and sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced them to almost eight years imprisonment.

In September 2019, the FSM government requested the US State Department launch an investigation into an American meatpacking company in Iowa that had allegedly been trafficking and abusing Micronesian workers.

Children's Rights Committee Concludes Consideration of Report of Micronesia

United Nations Press Release, HR/CRC/98/11, 14 January 1998

www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=6430&LangID=E

[accessed 11 September 2014]

newsarchive.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=6430&LangID=E

[accessed 22 September 2016]

A question was asked if cases of abducted children were common in Micronesia. The delegate affirmed that there were no known incidents of abduction or sale of children in the country. Because of the smallness of the islands and the scarcity of the population, it was difficult to carry out such acts, she added.

The Protection Project - Micronesia [DOC]

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University

www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/micronesia.doc

[accessed 2009]

TRAFFICKING ROUTES - Little information is available on trafficking in persons in the Federated States of Micronesia.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSES - There is no legislation specifically dealing with trafficking. Other general provisions may be applied to instances of trafficking, however. For example, the constitution states that slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited except to punish crime. The removal or confinement of any child younger than 14 by force, deception, or threat without his or her parents’ consent is prohibited.

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

Human Rights Reports » 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, February 25, 2009

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119048.htm

[accessed10 February 2020]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – National and state laws do not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons. During the year a court in Guam convicted the owners of a local bar and their Chuukese accomplices for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and enticement to travel for the purpose of prostitution. The bar owners admitted that they had recruited at least nine women from Chuuk to work as prostitutes from 2005 to 2007. Most local law enforcement officials believed that the case was isolated, reflecting economic problems in Chuuk, and that trafficking was not endemic in the country.

SECTION 6 WORKER RIGHTS – [e] Working conditions aboard some Chinese-owned fishing vessels operating in the country's waters were very poor. Crewmen reported a high incidence of injuries, beatings by officers, and nonpayment of salary.

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