Many victims of stalking are not protected by law, campaigners said yesterday, calling for the passage of a stalking and harassment prevention act.
“Many women who experience stalking and harassment are not protected by the law,” said Lai Fang-yu (賴芳玉), a lawyer and board member of the Modern Women’s Foundation, adding that laws such as the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法), Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法) and Criminal Code treat stalking as an “incident” rather than repetitive and continuous behavior, punishable only by small fines.
The law allows restraining orders in cases where the victim has some kind of family or romantic relationship with the stalker, denying the option to victims of anonymous stalkers, Lai said, adding that getting a restraining order can take up to a month, potentially endangering victims.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
A woman, surnamed Huang (黃), said that she been stalked by her sister’s ex-boyfriend for six years, with the man failing to be deterred, despite her repeated calls to police. She has moved homes and changed jobs twice, she said.
“When I felt I could not handle it anymore, I started to call the police, but when they came, they would just say that [the man] just happened to be in the area and there was nothing they could do,” Huang said.
“They said there was no law they could use and that while I could potentially sue him for stalking, that would only stand up if he has refused to leave when asked,” she said. “Whenever police came, he would hide and then come back after they left.”
Huang said she was only able to get a restraining order after the man was caught breaking into her home.
Foundation deputy executive director Lin Mei-hsun (林美薰) called for the passage of legislation to allow police to directly issue a restraining order after seeing a stalker once, citing a recent survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare that found that 5.2 percent of women have been stalked or harassed.
After a warning, stalkers should face a prison sentence of up to one year if they violate a police order, Lin said.
“Stalking is a crime and there should be a law to make it clear so it does not get lost in a maze of regulations,” she added.
Huang said that she would like provisions allowing her to know where her stalker was at any given time, adding that while she has not seen him in the past month, he has continued to write letters and make telephone calls.
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