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President Mori received Congressional Resolution 17-15

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): August 16, 2011 - Congressional Resolution 17-15, acceding to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (TIP), was received by President Mori on August 11, after Congress unanimously voted in favor of adopting the resolution on the last day of its First Special Session this month.

This resolution states in part that the protocol is the "first international legally binding instrument with agreed upon definition of (TIP)", facilitating the establishment of a unified domestic and international system to investigate, prosecute and deter TIP incidences.

FSM's accession to the protocol stands to increase the number of countries that have ratified the TIP Protocol over 147, a tally dating back to September of 2010 as reported during the 5th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) in the same year.

FSM is one of four Pacific nations that are parties to the UN Convention on TOC and only the second Pacific nation behind Nauru to have formally accepted the TIP Protocol according to information from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

President Mori informed Congress during their consultancy meeting on August 2 that he had instructed the Department of Justice to craft necessary legislation in line with the protocol to ensure its applicability and broaden human rights protection in the FSM.

The TIP Protocol was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as UN Resolution 55/25 on November 15, 2000, one of three supplementary measures to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, according to UNODC.