The National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday welcomed news that Taiwan remains a Tier 2 country on the US State Department’s 2009 Trafficking in Persons report released on Tuesday.
The report recommended Taiwan extend labor protection to all categories of workers, including domestic workers and caregivers, to prevent labor trafficking.
The report stated that to a lesser extent, Taiwan is a source of women trafficked to Japan, Australia, the UK and the US for sexual exploitation and forced labor, as well as a transit area for Chinese nationals seeking to enter the US illegally.
“Most trafficking victims are workers from rural areas of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, employed through recruitment agencies and brokers to perform low-skilled work … many of these workers fall victim to labor trafficking by unscrupulous brokers and employers,” the report said.
The report said that some women and girls from China and other Southeast Asian countries are trafficked into Taiwan through fraudulent marriages or deceptive job offices.
The women come to Taiwan under the impression they would work at a factory and instead are forced to work in brothels.
The report said that many non-governmental organizations are reporting an increase in the number of boys rescued from prostitution.
It said although Taiwanese authorities do not fully comply with the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking, “they are making significant efforts to do so,” such as passing a new anti-trafficking law in January and appropriating US$14.8 million for a plan for victim protection measures.
Last year, Taiwanese authorities banned for-profit marriage broker agencies and the Ministry of Justice reported prosecuting 481 individuals for suspected trafficking from April to December.
A total of 234 people have been convicted of trafficking-related offenses since April last year until January, the report said, but urged Taiwan to implement the new law more effectively to improve the country’s victim and witness protection programs so that trafficked individuals would not be penalized for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.
The report also recommended Taiwan bolster police efforts to investigate trafficking and to identify trafficking victims, and encourage victims to voluntarily assist in the prosecution of traffickers.
Taiwan has been on Tier 2 since 2007. In 2006, Taiwan was placed on the Tier 2 watch list. China has remained on the watch list since 2005.
The NIA said in an effort to combat human trafficking, the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法) was implemented on June 1. The law increases the punishment for traffickers.
The country has also agreed to provide safe shelter and grant temporary work rights for victims in Taiwan for assisting in prosecuting their traffickers, the NIA said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and