available or adequate. Victims expressed reluctance to testify against their traffickers due to threats of violence against them and their families.The Ministry of Interior granted extensions for foreign victims to stay in the country until a decision was reached on the victims’ repatriation by the Federal Review Board of the Supreme Court.

PREVENTION
The government made moderate efforts to prevent trafficking. In May 2014, the FIA established a research and analysis center in Islamabad with four staff responsible for collecting and analyzing data and trends related to human trafficking and smuggling. During the reporting period, the center published two quarterly newsletters with statistics and information on the government’s efforts to combat trafficking and smuggling. In 2014, the government drafted, but did not finalize, a national action plan. Law enforcement and social welfare departments partnered with NGOs and international organizations to raise awareness of trafficking through seminars, discussions, and other public events. Observers asserted the government did not take sufficient steps to inform emigrants about trafficking, even though a significant number of emigrants become victims of trafficking. Many of the district vigilance committees mandated by law and charged with curbing bonded labor continued to be inactive or ineffectual. In partnership with NGOs, the Sindh and Punjab provincial governments issued identification documents to bonded laborers and their families, which allowed them to access government benefits and reduced the probability of re-victimization. In 2014, the FIA, in partnership with an international organization, established a helpline and an email address for trafficking victims, while it continued to operate an existing helpline in its headquarters.The government reduced the demand for commercial sex acts by arresting clients and proprietors of brothels and other establishments; however, police also arrested potential sex trafficking victims. The government provided anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. The government provided anti-trafficking training to military observers, unit commanders, and contingency commanders prior to their deployment on peacekeeping missions. Pakistan is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PALAU:  Tier 2 
Palau is a destination country for women subjected to sex trafficking and for women and men subjected to forced labor. Palau’s foreign population, about one-third of the country’s population of 21,000, is the most vulnerable to trafficking. Filipino, Chinese, and Korean men and women pay thousands of dollars in recruitment fees and willingly migrate to Palau for jobs in domestic service, agriculture, restaurants, or construction. Upon arrival, some are forced to work in conditions substantially different from what had been presented in contracts or recruitment offers, and some become trafficking victims. Women from China and the Philippines are recruited to work in Palau as waitresses or clerks, but some are subsequently forced into prostitution in karaoke bars or massage parlors—many operated by Taiwanese, Filipino, or Palauan nationals. Foreign workers on fishing boats in Palau waters experience conditions indicative of human trafficking. Regulations that make it extremely difficult for foreign workers to change employers once they arrive in Palau place foreign workers at increased risk of involuntary servitude and debt bondage. Official complicity plays a significant role in facilitating trafficking;

government officials—including a governor, a police officer, a labor official, and an immigration official—have been investigated for complicity in trafficking crimes.
The Government of Palau does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. In 2014, the government initiated two investigations of suspected sex trafficking, identified 20 potential victims, and convicted one former labor official of misconduct that facilitated trafficking. Prosecutors charged all suspected traffickers, including allegedly complicit officials, with lesser crimes; there were no prosecutions or convictions for trafficking offenses. Officials identified all potential victims through raids on commercial sex venues; however, officials’ failure to adequately screen for indicators of trafficking during such raids may have resulted in the punishment of some unidentified victims for prostitution offenses.The government did not provide shelter or other forms of protection to identified victims, nor did it refer victims to other organizations to receive such support.The government failed to reconvene the anti-trafficking working group disbanded during the previous reporting period.

RECOMMENDATIONS   FOR PALAU:
Using the 2005 anti-trafficking law, increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, convict sex and labor traffickers, and impose stringent penalties on convicted traffickers—including complicit officials; establish formal procedures for front-line officers to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups and refer them to protective services; use funds obtained through asset seizure or fines on convicted traffickers to support victims; increase financial and human resources devoted to victim protection efforts; do not penalize trafficking victims for illegal acts committed as a result of trafficking; develop systematic procedures to provide necessary authorization for foreign victims to remain in the country and obtain alternate employment; reassemble the national working group to combat trafficking and develop a national plan of action to guide its work; implement anti-trafficking information and education campaigns targeting vulnerable populations; enforce laws punishing employment agents for illegal practices which facilitate trafficking; and accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION
The government continued to investigate possible sex trafficking crimes, but failed to apply its anti-trafficking law to prosecute or convict any traffickers. Palau’s Anti-Smuggling and Trafficking Act of 2005 prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons and prescribes penalties for these offenses ranging from 10 to 50 years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $500,000; these penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.The government prosecuted all suspected traffickers for labor violations or prostitution-related offenses instead of trafficking crimes that carry more severe penalties; offenders convicted under these other statutes received probation or nominal prison sentences.

There were no prosecutions or convictions under human trafficking laws in 2014.The government investigated two cases of prostitution that may have involved human trafficking. As a result of these investigations, six defendants were prosecuted and convicted of prostitution-related crimes and received light punishments ranging from probation to 20 days’ imprisonment, as well as fines. Authorities continued prosecutions of four foreign nationals for prostitution-related violations in a December 2012 sex trafficking case and obtained one conviction; one defendant, permitted to travel to his home country during the previous reporting period, remained abroad.A Palauan police officer in this case was charged with labor violations. Suspected trafficking cases were often alleged to involve complicit officials; in 2014, the government convicted one labor official for misconduct that contributed to foreign nationals becoming trafficking victims in Palau. The government dropped all charges against a governor of one of Palau’s states for alleged involvement in a 2013 sex trafficking case. In the same case, three prosecutions for prostitution-related crimes remained ongoing. The government investigated a labor recruiter for labor trafficking violations; it did not provide an update on a complaint filed in 2013 about working conditions that could be indicative of forced labor.