Several legislators and women's groups are calling for reform of Taiwan's divorce laws and the introduction of "no-fault" divorce.
In Taiwan, a couple can obtain a divorce in two ways, either by mutual agreement or through a ruling in the courts on the grounds of adultery, cruelty, confinement in prison, physical incapacity or several other "faults."
With the divorce rate on the rise -- it jumped from 0.62 percent in 1978 to 2 percent in 1998 -- some people think it is too easy to get divorced in Taiwan.
Women's rights activists, however, disagree that it is too easy to obtain a divorce through the courts.
Both sides of the debate were presented during a public hearing on the issue at the Legislative Yuan yesterday that was attended by Ying Chih-hung (
Divorce by agreement, a device unique to Taiwan, is said to have made it too easy to end a marriage.
"Buy a divorce agreement from a stationery store, get two friends to sign it attesting to how unbearable your marriage is and then sign your own names on the documents -- that's all you have to do to end a marriage," said legislator Ying, who was a practicing lawyer in the US.
"It's easy for a couple to get very irrational during a quarrel. But a divorce agreement signed under such circumstances could often leave both of them regretting it for the rest of their lives," he said.
On the other hand, women's rights activists, who have long pressed for relaxing the existing restrictions on divorce, think going through the courts for a "fault" divorce is often too hard for some women.
"Many compare modern marriage to an instant meal, which comes and goes quickly. But that's only partially true," said Chen Mei-hua (
"The process of getting married could be like having an instant meal. But getting a divorce is quite another story. Until the day they actually get divorced, a lot of women have tasted bitter meals of adultery or violence," she said.
"Some people say it's not a good thing to have more and more couples divorcing each year. But is it a good thing to see the very poor conditions persist in lots of marriages?" Chen asked.
Normally in any divorce request, the "non-fault" spouse is required to present concrete evidence of their partner's marital misconduct. To many people's relief, however, a number of recent court decisions have made a divorce possible even though none of the fault grounds was alleged.
Putting less emphasis on "proof of fault," these courts have granted divorce requests on the basis of a legal provision that allows a divorce when a marriage is no longer sustainable for "important reasons" other than the marital conduct referred to in the law.
However, the results of court rulings often vary from one judge to another because of their diverse views on marriage. And so there have often been cases where a divorce request is granted by a district court judge only to be dismissed later by a High Court judge.
Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊), a Taipei city councilor and a divorce lawyer, said she found that the subjectivity of judges very much affects their decisions on divorce requests.
"The gap has to be bridged by setting standards for the judges. We're hoping the judges won't make decisions based on their own views about marriage, but based on factual conditions of the marriages [in the divorce cases before them]," Huang said.
One way to remedy the situation might be the introduction of "no-fault" divorce, which would be handled by the courts, but would not require one spouse to prove the "guilt" of the other.
The Awakening Foundation and other women's groups have long called for such a move.
Ying is one of the legislators who wants to overhaul the current system and introduce no-fault divorce.
At yesterday's hearing, he promised to draft legislation to allow for no-fault divorces.
Under pressure from women's groups, Taiwan's divorce law has been amended several times in recent years. The last amendment was made in September 1996, when the regulations were changed to give mothers an equal chance at winning custody of their children after a divorce.
Prior to the change, custody was almost always granted to the father or the father's family.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
RSS