Several new regulations are to take effect on Jan. 1, including amendments to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法) that mandate more severe penalties for perpetrators, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.
The Legislative Yuan in May passed the updates to combat a surge in human trafficking by criminal groups targeting Taiwanese.
Under the amended act, attempted human trafficking is to be punishable by five to seven years in prison.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Using debt bondage, withholding identity documents, or abusing a person’s inability, ignorance or helplessness to subject them to labor for which their pay is not is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$32,048), the updated act says.
If the victim is under the age of 18, the penalty rises to up to seven years in prison and may also include a fine of up to NT$5 million, it says.
Those who use force, threats, intimidation, confinement, drugs, fraud, hypnosis or similar means to harvest human organs may be sentenced to no less than seven years in jail and a fine of up to NT$10 million.
Subjugating someone to involuntary servitude by coercion and other illegal means is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to NT$3 million, it said.
The penalties increase to five years in prison and a fine of no more than NT$5 million if the crime was committed with the intent to profit.
Forcing people into sex work by taking advantage of their debts, helplessness or other vulnerabilities is to be punishable by a sentence of six months to five years in prison and may also include a fine of no more than NT$3 million.
Also starting next year, the government is to broaden the residency rights of some foreigners who were previously married to a Taiwanese.
Foreign spouses raising or visiting their child under the age of 18 would be able to obtain or renew their residency if their Taiwanese partner has died or their status has somehow lapsed, the Cabinet said.
Foreigners who divorce a Taiwanese due to domestic violence may keep their certificate without regard to childbearing status or whether a court had granted a protective order, it said.
Overseas compatriots are to be allowed to apply for residency after staying legally in the country for more than 183 days per year for five consecutive years, it said.
However, the penalty for foreigners overstaying their visa is to be increased from NT$10,000 to NT$50,000, and they would be banned from entering the country for up to seven years, it said.
Foreign students who completed their degree in Taiwan are to be allowed to stay for a year and request one extension of stay, the Cabinet said.
Other measures going into effect next year include the extension of mandatory military service to one year for men born in or after 2005.
Also starting next year, parents who send their child to a public infant-care facility are to receive a monthly subsidy of NT$7,000, up from NT$5,500, it said.
Parents sending their children to a semi-public infant-care facility would receive a monthly subsidy of NT$13,000, up from NT$8,500, the Cabinet said.
Social welfare payments are to be boosted by about 7 percent across the board, it said.
Senior citizens in medium-to-low-income and low-income households are to receive a monthly subsidy of NT$4,151 and NT$8,302 respectively, while disadvantaged minors are to receive a monthly subsidy of NT$2,190 to NT$2,653, it said.
Handicapped people are to receive a monthly subsidy of NT$4,036, NT$5,420 or NT$9,455, depending on their circumstances, it said.
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