In celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (
"People may see only mixed lines in this picture. Take a closer look, however, and you can see a big hand holding a small hand, which to me means that one day I can hold my daughter's hand again when she comes back to me," said an abused woman, named Pu-chen. She was pointing to a drawing she and other abused women created together during art-therapy sessions held by the foundation.
After enduring her husband's abuse for more than seven years, Pu-chen successfully filed for divorce and won guardianship rights over her son. However, her ex-husband went to China with their two daughters and left her behind with debts of NT$8 million.
PHOTO: LIU TE-HSIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Pu-chen said that her ex-husband still threatens her by phone and refuses to let her see the two daughters. But she knew that saying `No' to her husband's abuse was the right thing to do, and the power to resist the violence, which comes both from within and with assistance from outside, has been stronger than she had thought.
"My family did not support my decision to leave my husband, and I know that by leaving him, I have to risk meeting his debts and losing my children. But no one should have to endure any violence, and there's nothing wrong with refusing being abused," she said.
Since the passage of the law six years ago, local governments have set up 24-hour helpline numbers as a domestic-abuse prevention measure and to provide immediate assistance to victims.
Statistics compiled by the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) shows that the "113 Women and Children's Domestic Abuse Helpline" dealt with 149,250 cases last year, with inquiries about legal protection issues accounting for about 20 percent of all calls.
With the issue of domestic abuse receiving more and more attention, the foundation's chief operations officer, Chang Chin-li (
"When women decide to leave their domestic turmoil behind them, they will face numerous problems such as unemployment, meeting mortgage payments and rent and taking proper care of their children. The government should provide a strong support system to make it easier for victims to leave their abuser," she said.
Currently, domestic abuse victims can call the 113 Women and Children's Domestic Abuse Helpline for help. They can also seek legal protection at their local court or through social workers and local government agencies.
Civil groups dedicated to assisting domestic-violence victims include the Modern Women's Foundation, the Garden of Hope Foundation and the Hualien Good Shepherd Center.
The "Empowerment of Instances" book and art exhibitions run through June 30 at the SPOT-Taipei Film House.
Three film-appreciation events, featuring the movies Dolores Claiborne, Antwone Fisher and The Accused, will be held in the film house on June 25 and June 26. In addition, the Taipei City Government and the foundation will also hold a "Before I Say Yes, I Do" forum to discuss legal, physical and psychological issues of marriage.
For more detailed information on the exhibitions and other events, visit www.38.org.tw or lodge enquiries at (02) 2391-7133.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods