To Yukiko, life on the street as a prostitute is never easy.
Not only does she suffer the physical pain caused by hours of standing, she also faces the danger of being caught by "fishers" -- prostitutes slang for policemen who pretend to be patrons and seek to arrest suspects engaging in illegal sexual transactions.
"I have been in the business for 30 years," she said. "When two people come into the alley, act like they are drunk, and start asking questions such as `How much do you charge, lady?' I know they are [fishers]."
Yukiko added that once she was betrayed by one of her patrons, who cooperated with a police officer. As soon as she sat down with the patron the police came in and caught them "in the act."
Today, Yukiko will join her peers, representatives from the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters and other social groups to appeal to the government to decriminalize sex workers.
Participants, who will share scooters, plan to ride from Longshan Temple to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA).
Besides a parade, the organizers will also put on shows, dances, a short documentary film and a seminar to reinforce their message. Toward the end of the parade, participants will jointly sing a song titled "Trashy Government" and announce the formation of a labor union for sex workers.
The legislation was passed in 1997 when Chen was mayor, but was not implemented until 2001, by which time he was president.
Since then, approximately 60 percent of formerly legal prostitutes have resumed their careers as illegal prostitutes, according to Chien Chia-ying (
Chien and other volunteers routinely walk the streets near the Wanhua area of Taipei at night distributing condoms and giving advice to sex workers on how to avoid contracting sexual diseases.
Chien noted that in her experience these women were not born to be criminals.
Each has a story to tell about how they become what they are now, she said.
The nation's lackluster economy has forced many to go back on the streets, she added, and hardly anyone is concerned about the safety of their working conditions.
"The police simply try to catch an unfortunate few to meet their quota," Chien said, adding that this has created tremendous pressure on many prostitutes.
Chung Chun-chu (鍾君竺), executive director for the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, said that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) conducted an assessment of the sex industry in 2002, in which it was proposed that a public hearing should be held about how prostitution could be regulated. Meanwhile, it suggested that the government strengthen its communication with sex workers.
Although the organization's appeals have received a sympathetic response from legislators and officials, Chung noted that many have been hesitant to endorse them.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS