Despite a well-designed system to respond to domestic violence cases and sex crimes, a shortage of budgeting and professional help still hurts the effectiveness of the victim support network, activists said at a conference yesterday.
The activists made the remarks at a forum hosted by the Taiwan Coalition Against Violence, which comprises more than 20 children's and women's protection groups.
The conference began with a review of the top 10 news items on violence against children and women from the beginning of the year until the end of September.
Among the top 10 news items included cases of date rape, sexual harassment in public places, child abuse and parents who killed their children and themselves.
"We have several very good laws and a well-designed system to discover and to sanction offenders in such cases," said Hsu Hui-yi (
STAFFING AND MONEY
Lin Tzu-ling (
Lin said that the availability of staffing and budgeting for community monitoring and psychological counseling of offenders are both running short.
Lin cited the example of the release earlier this year of a former sex offender surnamed Yang (
Yang, who committed several sex crimes, was released on parole in September.
However, some critics questioned the professionalism of an evaluation report that resulted in his release, as the volunteer social worker who wrote the report was an engineer and did not have any training in psychological counseling.
"The number of social workers for victims across the country is several hundreds of people short," said Gau Fehng-shian (
LACK OF EQUIPMENT
"Some police officers have also complained to me that they don't have enough equipment such as voice recorders or video recorders," she said.
Hsu also said there was a lack of professional training among law professionals.
"Very few [judges and prosecutors] received training in handling domestic violence cases and sex crime during their education," she said. "That's why the ridiculous verdict on the 10-second breast-touching' case was handed down."
Hsu was referring to a case in August in which a man who was charged with sexually harassing a woman by touching her breasts for 10 seconds was ruled to be not guilty when the judge decided that a period of 10 seconds was not long enough to qualify for sexual harassment.
To make up for the shortage of available help, the coalition has decided to set up a hotline next year, Gau said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS