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Plight of smuggled underage Chinese prostitutes raised

The End Child Prostitution Association in Taiwan (ECAPT, 終止童妓協會) yesterday urged the public to take seriously the issue of underage prostitutes being smuggled into the country from China and called on the government to treat it as a major violation of human rights.

Lee Li-feng (李麗芬), the association's secretary-general, said that victims of international exploitation should be able to return home swiftly and safely.

If they cannot be repatriated immediately, they should be given shelter that meets basic human-rights standards and given counseling to help them regain their confidence, Lee said.

But in Taiwan, Lee said, laws and difficulties in the relationship with China meant the government could not satisfy these requirements in the cases of underage girls smuggled from China.

"We hope that governments on both sides will pay attention to the trafficking crimes, and set up a network together to crack down on these crimes," Lee said.

"It is also important that underage victims are given priority in returning to their homes in China, and before that the Taiwanese government should offer them proper support and protection of their privacy," Lee said.

Lee said the public often thought these women were smuggled and went into prostitution of their own free will so they did not deserve protection, but in fact these women were exploited by the traffickers and pimps.

The association conducted a survey of 62 underage girls in the Hsinchu shelter for illegal Chinese immigrants during the past two months, the results of which showed that most girls were not aware of the real purpose of their trip to Taiwan.

Only 22.4 percent expected to work in a pub or hostess bar as prostitutes, while 64.5 percent ended up doing this kind of work. The survey also showed that 85.7 percent did not like what they did and more than 60 percent had to give all their earnings to their bosses.

Only 2 girls were informed of the dangers of smuggling, it said.

These girls were mostly badly educated, with more than 60 percent having only a junior high school education.

"The survey tells us that these young girls are easily deceived by the smugglers because of their lack of social experience. We hope Taiwanese people can think more about why these young girls come to Taiwan and not just simplify the reason as gold-digging," Lee said.
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