A bill that establishes penalties for attempted human trafficking passed the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with offenders to face up to seven years in prison.
The newly passed amendments to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法) stipulate that those who attempt to use force, threats, intimidation or fraud to recruit, trade, take into bondage, transport, deliver, receive, harbor, hide, broker or accommodate a person would be sentenced to up to five years in jail.
A penalty of up to seven years in jail would be handed to offenders who attempt to traffic someone under the age of 18, the amendments say.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The amendments were approved by the Cabinet on March 23, and submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review when the government was under pressure to tighten punishments for human trafficking and attempted human trafficking.
The public outcry followed a series of incidents last year in which hundreds of Taiwanese were lured to Cambodia by gangs with lucrative job offers, only to be held against their will and forced to work in telecommunications scams or as prostitutes.
In accordance with international practices, the amendments employ a broad definition of human trafficking, which includes the conduct of offenders who use forced labor, pay their workers disproportionately, or treat them as slaves.
The amendments would apply even in cases where a potential victim is prevented from boarding a plane by police intervention at an airport, or otherwise rescued before being trafficked abroad.
Previously, the authorities were able — based on the need for an investigation or trial — to grant a visitor permit for up to six months to any non-Taiwanese human trafficking victim.
The amendments extend the period of stay for such people to up to one year, to encourage them to work with investigators.
The amendments stipulate that foreign victims would be granted accommodation and financial assistance if they stay in Taiwan, as well as being accompanied by law enforcement officials to court hearings.
The amendments allow individuals to appeal the outcome of cases.
Anyone found guilty by a court, whether an individual or an institution, cannot bid for public work projects for five years, the amendments say.
Also yesterday, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment that seeks to curb identity fraud and money laundering using other people’s financial accounts.
The amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) stipulates a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, or a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$32,503), for those found guilty of selling financial accounts or account numbers.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said the amendment was needed to curb a growing number of fraud cases that had “caused great financial loss for many people.”
“If we cannot tackle the issue of identity fraud for misappropriating financial accounts, then we will be unable to tackle fraud crime in general,” he said.
The amendment includes the addition of Article 15-2, which stipulates that no one can hand over or provide financial account information to others without a justified reason, he said.
The final version of the amendment applies to financial accounts at banks and other traditional financial institutions, virtual currency trading platforms and third-party payment services.
However, the newly stipulated restrictions on sharing account information would not apply to “general business and financial transaction practices, in which sharing of this information is justified and required, or transactions based on a relationship of trust between relatives and friends, or other legitimate reasons,” he said.
The amendment stipulates that financial institutions, virtual currency trading platforms and third-party payment services close within a specified period all accounts identified as being associated with identity fraud.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS