October 16, 2026
Washington D.C. – The Federated States of Micronesia remains on Tier 2 in the United States’ 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report, receiving credit for increased anti-trafficking efforts despite continuing gaps in prosecutions, victim identification and protection.
The State Department reported that FSM authorities investigated six potential trafficking cases in 2025, distributed victim identification procedures to law enforcement, provided training and continued public awareness activities.
But for the fourth consecutive year, authorities initiated no new trafficking prosecutions and convicted no traffickers. For the third consecutive year, they identified and assisted no trafficking victims. An updated national action plan also remained unfinished for a third year.
Those findings illustrate what the annual ratings measure: how governments respond to trafficking. A country’s tier is not a count of victims or a ranking of how widespread trafficking is within its borders.
For the FSM, Tier 2 means the State Department believes the government is making significant efforts but still falls short of minimum standards established under U.S. law.
What the ratings mean
The report places governments in four main categories.
Tier 1 means a government fully meets the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking. It does not mean trafficking has been eliminated or that a country has no victims.
Tier 2 means a government does not fully meet those standards but is making significant efforts to comply.
The Tier 2 Watch List applies to governments making significant efforts but facing additional concerns, such as a failure to demonstrate increasing efforts or a very significant or growing number of victims without a proportionate response.
Tier 3 means a government neither fully meets the standards nor makes significant efforts to do so.
The standards examine whether governments prohibit trafficking, prescribe sufficiently serious penalties and make sustained efforts to investigate crimes, prosecute offenders, protect victims and prevent exploitation. Assessments also consider governments’ resources and capabilities.
In the supplied international placements, the Marshall Islands and Palau join the FSM on Tier 2. Fiji and Papua New Guinea are on the Tier 2 Watch List. The United States is on Tier 1.
Why the United States issues the report
The report’s authority comes from the U.S. Congress. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended, requires the State Department to assess governments’ anti-trafficking efforts annually.
The State Department describes the report as a tool for diplomacy, international cooperation and directing resources toward prosecution, victim protection and prevention. Its 2026 reporting process sought information covering April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026.
The United States has included an assessment of its own government since 2010.
The resulting ratings are U.S. government judgments under U.S. legislation, rather than decisions issued by an international court or the United Nations. However, the underlying definitions of trafficking in U.S. law closely resemble those in the United Nations’ trafficking protocol.
The ratings also have potential financial consequences. Tier 3 governments may face restrictions on certain nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related U.S. assistance, as well as U.S. opposition to some international financial institution assistance. Presidential waivers are available, including to protect vulnerable populations.
Investigations increased, but no victims identified
The FSM investigated six potential cases in 2025, compared with one in the previous reporting period, but authorities determined that none involved trafficking.
The report also describes unresolved proceedings against a former government official in Pohnpei. Two prosecutions initiated in an earlier reporting period included multiple charges, among them alleged sex trafficking. The former official remained pending trial and appealed one charge during the reporting period.
The report does not describe those allegations as proven offenses.
Although national victim identification procedures were distributed to law enforcement, observers reported that insufficient training weakened their implementation.
The government operated dedicated trafficking shelters in all four states. According to observers cited in the report, each could accommodate one victim at a time. Services were located on the main islands, creating access difficulties for potential victims on outer islands.
The anti-human trafficking division received a reported $150,000 budget for investigations, victim assistance and prevention, unchanged from the previous reporting period.
The absence of identified victims does not establish that trafficking was absent. The report separately describes concerns about unreported exploitation and barriers to detecting it.
Recruitment and fishing remain concerns
The State Department identified weaknesses in oversight of labor recruitment, including inconsistent enforcement of recruiter registration requirements and gaps affecting migrant workers in private employment.
It also reported that migrant workers seeking to change private-sector employers had to leave the country or obtain an approved permit costing $1,000. The report warned that this could leave some workers with exploitative employers.
Authorities conducted no labor inspections aboard fishing vessels because legislation did not authorize such inspections on foreign vessels, although efforts were underway to develop a process involving referrals to anti-trafficking officials.
The report describes risks both within the FSM and for citizens abroad. Traffickers may use promises of well-paid jobs in the United States and its territories to recruit Micronesians who are subsequently exploited in forced labor, domestic servitude or commercial sex.
Trafficking does not require crossing a border. It involves exploitation through force, fraud or coercion; when a child under 18 is exploited in commercial sex, proof of those means is unnecessary.
The FSM’s unchanged rating therefore carries both recognition and criticism: the State Department credits continued efforts while reporting that those efforts have yet to produce new prosecutions, convictions or identified victims.
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