Palau strives to comply with human trafficking protections, but remains listed as Tier 2

The U.S. department once again ranked Palau in Tier 2 in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), but the report highlighted the island nation’s multiple efforts to combat human trafficking.

The report said Palau “remained in Tier 2 due to increased efforts compared to the previous reporting period.”

TIP said Palau’s efforts include amending anti-trafficking laws to increase penalties for trafficking crimes and strengthen protections for trafficking victims, investigating more trafficking crimes, identifying more trafficking victims, conducting public awareness campaigns, and providing protection services for victims.

Palau also allocated direct funds for victim assistance and implementation of the National Action Plan “for the first time in three years.”

However, the government still failed to meet minimum standards in several key areas. “The government did not prosecute any trafficking cases, convict any traffickers, conduct education or public awareness campaigns for labor recruiters, or prohibit agents from charging workers recruitment fees.”

Countries placed in Tier 2 are governments that do not fully meet the minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

Over the past five years, human traffickers have exploited domestic and foreign victims in Palau, and human traffickers have exploited Palauan victims abroad.

The report cited a survey by an NGO, which found that in a 2023 survey, only one-third of male respondents believed that human trafficking existed in Palau.

However, in another survey in 2023, about a third of respondents were unaware of the existence of national laws protecting victims of trafficking, and about 20% did not believe trafficking occurred in Palau, according to the government.

Palau’s profile in human trafficking reports over the past five years includes cases of traffickers using Palauan girls for sex, primarily in Koror and Airai states.

It also noted that because a third of the country’s 18,000 population are foreigners, they are at risk of being trafficked.

“Undocumented migrants and migrant workers with little education and low English proficiency are more vulnerable to trafficking. Adults who are nationals of the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) pay thousands of dollars in recruitment fees, sometimes as high as $8,000, and are willing to migrate to Palau to work in domestic service, agriculture, hospitality, or construction.”

“Around the world, approximately 27 million people are exploited for labor, services, and commercial sex. Through violence, fraud, and coercion, they are forced to toil in fields, factories, restaurants, and homes,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement when the report was released. “Human traffickers prey on the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable people, profiting from their plight.” (By Bernadette Carreon)

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