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Micronesia

23 September 2020 – Micronesia

23 September 2020
J. Pasley, “Isolation and Closed Borders: Here's How Ten Pacific Island Nations are COVID-19-Free, and the Costs That Come With it,” Business Insider, 22 September 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-10-pacific-island-nations-are-covid-19-free-2020-9?r=US&IR=T
J. Pasley, “Isolation and Closed Borders: Here's How Ten Pacific Island Nations are COVID-19-Free, and the Costs That Come With it,” Business Insider, 22 September 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-10-pacific-island-nations-are-covid-19-free-2020-9?r=US&IR=T

The Federated States of Micronesia, which as of 25 August 2020 had no confirmed cases of COVID-19, does not have national asylum legislation and is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. According to the 2020 U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, human traffickers target women from Micronesia for different forms of exploitation. As of 2020, the government “remained without comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) for proactive victim identification and referral to protection services. Law enforcement and judicial understanding of trafficking remained low and overall protection services continued to be insufficient.” There is little available information about the treatment of migrants or asylum seekers in immigration enforcement procedures in Micronesia.

As regards the country’s prison system, the Micronesian Red Cross reported that it provided a disinfectant station to the Division of Public Safety for use by police officers and visitors to the Yap Prison. The Red Cross also visited prisoners at the facility to brief them on precautions to take to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and to provide them with first aid supplies and soap.