Overview:
After more than a decade, Palau is moving closer to providing the public with access to its sex offender registry. The Attorney General’s Office is installing a dedicated computer for on-site public access, but questions remain about when the law’s required online database will become available.
By: Eoghan Olkeriil Ngirudelsang
Koror, Palau (August 6, 2026) — The Office of the Attorney General is preparing to provide the public with on-site access to Palau’s sex offender registry, marking the first step in implementing a law enacted more than a decade ago.
Attorney General Ernestine Rengiil said the office has purchased a computer dedicated exclusively to providing public access to the registry after receiving additional funding from Congress.
“Access will soon be possible thanks to Congress for giving the AG’s Office extra funding, so we have now bought one computer strictly dedicated for sex offender registry,” Rengiil said. She added that the computer is currently being installed.
The dedicated computer will allow members of the public to access registry information at the Attorney General’s Office. However, Rengiil did not provide an update on the online database required under the law that would allow people to search the registry remotely, similar to systems available in Guam and other U.S. territories and countries.
Rengiil said compiling and maintaining the registry is a complex undertaking because officials must verify and update information on individuals who may have used different names or who have died.
“This is not as easy a task, for we are tasked to gather people’s names, some of whom use different names, and gather their birth dates, some of whom have died,” she said.
The issue has gained renewed attention as the United States and some of its territories have continued in recent years to deport Palauan citizens convicted of crimes back to Palau, including people convicted of serious offenses such as rape and sexual abuse of minors.
According to the Guam Sex Offender Registry, at least 13 individuals had been deported from Guam to Palau for sexual offenses through 2018. That number has increased significantly since then.
Palau’s Sex Offender Registration Act, codified under Title 17 of the Palau National Code, Chapter 17, was enacted in 2014 and amended in 2016 to strengthen monitoring of convicted sex offenders and promote public awareness.
The law requires individuals convicted of sex offenses to register with both the Office of the Attorney General and the Bureau of Public Safety after their release, while on probation or parole, or under other court-ordered conditions.
Registered offenders must provide information including their residence, employment, photographs and other details required by law.
Individuals convicted of similar offenses in other jurisdictions are also required to register with the Attorney General’s Office and Bureau of Public Safety within three business days of arriving in Palau.
Registration with the Bureau of Public Safety allows the government to obtain fingerprints, current photographs and other required registration information.
The law further requires individuals who are registered as sex offenders in another jurisdiction to register in Palau if they remain in the country for more than 10 days.
The legislation authorizes public access to information about registered sex offenders through both public internet access and on-site access. Despite the law’s requirements, the Attorney General’s Office has not previously established a public computer or online platform for accessing the registry.
Rengiil’s announcement that the dedicated computer is now being installed represents a step toward fulfilling the law’s public-access provision.
Information concerning deportees is currently sent to the Ministry of State, which transmits it to the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General.
More than a decade after the Sex Offender Registration Act was enacted and nearly 10 years after its 2016 amendment, community advocates continue to raise concerns about the lack of a publicly searchable registry.
The establishment of a dedicated public-access computer addresses one part of the law’s requirements. It remains unclear when Palau will establish the online registry that would allow the public to search the database remotely.
