Internet auction Web site eBay Taiwan was yesterday accused by a leading women's welfare group of being party to the auctioning of Vietnamese women.
The Women's Rescue Foundation alleged at a press conference held at the Broadcasting Development Fund building that eBay Taiwan had been engaging in the sale of women as brides for Taiwanese men.
"Humans are not animals or goods, and the selling or buying of any individual is a criminal act," said Shen Mei-chen (沈美真), a lawyer with the foundation.
PHOTO: HUANG TUN-YEN, TAIPEI TIMES
"According to Article 296, Sub-article 1 of the Criminal Code, anyone who engages in the buying or selling of others may receive a minimum sentence of 5 years or a penalty of NT$500,000," she said.
Shen said that the foundation had filed a lawsuit against the company yesterday at the Taipei District Court.
The accusation was prompted by an online auction posting of three Vietnamese women on eBay Taiwan's Web site between March 5 and 13, which raised eyebrows among Asian communities around the world.
After eBay Taiwan received strong protests from various international human rights groups, it finally removed the posting from its Web site.
The women's foundation, however, considered that eBay Taiwan was accountable for the incident.
After looking into the matter yesterday, Eric Lee (李相臣), the head of the Internet Crime Investigation Squad, said that the eBay Taiwan online user who initiated the auction had only done so to provide a marriage liaison service.
"The online user who put up this posting is a chef in Taichung who is married a Vietnamese woman. He simply wanted others in Taiwan to have a chance to marry other Vietnamese girls. He had no intention of selling anyone at all," Lee said.
According to the police, the online user fell in love with his wife while traveling in Vietnam. He decided to post the pictures of his wife's female relatives so that other men might be able to get to know them when traveling to Vietnam.
But this conclusion did not deter the foundation from pursuing legal action, nor did it stop Shen from pointing to the involvement of organized crime in the matter.
Shen said last night that the police's conclusion that the online auction was a marriage liaison service was nonsense.
Reacting to the accusation yesterday morning, eBay Taiwan said that it would make an announcement on its Web site that any marriage liaison services would be banned from its facility henceforth.
"The police has already clarified that this particular online user posted the auction for marriage liaison services without the intention of putting any individuals up for sale," said Angel Cheng (成葆齡), a public relations manager at eBay Taiwan.
"However, eBay has decided to ban any marriage liaison services from auctioning on our Web site," she said.
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