Community Outraged With Palau's Human Trafficking Hearing

Members of the community have expressed disappointment and embarrassment at their leaders during the House Committee on Judiciary and Government Affairs oversight hearing.  The hearing grew tense as the delegates questioned and then accused the Attorney General of failing to perform her job.

On January 28, drug 2014, healing members of the House JGA committee (including non-committee members) blasted the Attorney General for the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report during a two-hour public hearing that was broadcasted live on radio.
Attorney General Victoria Roe, viagra Minister of Justice and Vice President Antonio Bells, and Minister of State Billy Kuartei sat before the Committee on a hearing that focused solely on the U.S. report and its contents.

AG Roe was accused of failing to defend Palau’s “honor and dignity” and was demanded to answer the question of whether she agreed with the report and whether she thought the US report was accurate and true.
Speaker Sabino Anastacio claimed that it is the Attorney General’s responsibility to defend Palau and to provide a legal analysis about the veracity of the report, which they also accused her of failing to do.
At one point during the hearing at the old OEK, Delegate Jonathan Isechal publicly read the AG’s contract questioning where it allowed her to speak about the report or the Tier rankings before the Senate’s JGA committee without Minister Bells’ permission.  Despite AG Roe’s response in saying the Minister of Justice did indeed request that she make a presentation on such matters at the said hearing, Delegate Isechal continued to badger her about the issue.
The hearing continued to intensify when Delegate Isechal referred to the AG’s actions before the Senate hearing as “stupid” and “condemn[ed]” her then exclaimed that she should be “fired.”
An editorial from an unknown concerned citizen was shared with the media  calling the hearing a “sham” and a way for “leaders to demonstrate how little they know and how they are willing to use their power to protect each other.”
The editorial went on to claim that Delegate Isechal was “putting on a show persecuting the AG for prosecuting his friends, namely the Governor of Peleliu Temmy Shmull and [Haruo Esang, another . . .] powerful Peleliu businessman,” both who are known to be “his political supporters.”
The hearing and the conduct of the delegates sent a shockwave throughout Palau and abroad as citizens lined up on Facebook and webblogs to criticize the House of Delegates for their failure to read the Trafficking Report for the last four years and for their failure to focus on the real problem — the victims of human trafficking.