Taiwan has launched its first-ever study of institutional sexual assault cases against children and teens, with the aim of tackling the issue more effectively and reducing such crimes, Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday.
“To understand the structural factors of the problem, the National Human Rights Commission of the Control Yuan has begun a campaign to discover the reasons for these offenses,” Chen said at a news conference alongside Control Yuan members Chang Chu-fang (張菊芳) and Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇).
Police reported 7,787 sexual assault cases last year, with 4,520 involving victims younger than 18, Chen said, citing Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics.
Photo: CNA
A national report showed that 233 children and young adults in 2020 were sexually abused or attacked at elementary or high schools in Taiwan, she said.
The commission is exploring the problem through written and oral interviews, she said.
“We must find out the circumstances in which these assaults occurred so that we can understand what is wrong in our systems, and not stop at investigating individual cases,” she said.
Tien called child and juvenile victims of sexual abuse “survivors” and said she knows it is not easy for them to speak about their experiences.
The commission plans to interview 500 victims of sexual abuse at halfway houses or schools — 100 in-person and 400 through written and telephone interviews, Chen said.
Interviews are to involve child and juvenile victims, along with adults who experienced a sexual assault as a child or teenager, with the investigation to conclude in July next year, Chang said.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS