People should not repost personal information about sexual assault victims or “cyber-manhunt” on the Internet, but instead report the cases to government authorities to help protect victims, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Protective Services said.
The day after a promising young author was found dead in her home on Thursday from an apparent suicide, the publisher of her debut novel posted an article on its Facebook page, saying that her parents said the main character was created from her own experience of being raped by a teacher.
In response to the case, which triggered wide discussion in the media and online, the ministry released a statement urging people not to disclose or spread any information that could identify victims of sexual assault, either through traditional or social media.
Department Director Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) said sexual assault is painful, as well as a serious threat to life and freedom, and some victims will suffer from the trauma long after the event.
While there were a total of 10,610 sexual assault cases reported last year, only 3,646 were handled through the judiciary, so many other people still need support, she said.
The department has commissioned the Garden of Hope Foundation and the Modern Women’s Foundation to establish two rehabilitation centers this year to provide support, counseling and treatment services for people who have been sexually assaulted, Chang said.
She said people should avoid any type of disclosure about the identity of sexual assault victims, or they might face a fine of up to NT$100,000, according to the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害犯罪防治法).
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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