With Taiwan listed as a Tier 2 country for the second straight year in an annual US human- trafficking report, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday it had completed a draft anti-human trafficking proposal and would submit it to the Executive Yuan at the end of this week.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎), who is the acting head of the agency, made the remark at a two-day international human-trafficking seminar that opened in Taipei yesterday.
The Trafficking in Persons Report 2008, released by the US Department of State on June 6, placed Taiwan on the list of “Tier 2” countries in terms of human trafficking, the same level as last year.
The report describes Taiwan as a destination for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Taiwan is also a source of women trafficked to Japan, Australia, the UK and the US, the report said.
Chien said the government was determined to fight human trafficking, as shown by the “anti-human trafficking project” launched by the Executive Yuan in November 2006, an inter- agency task force on anti-human trafficking that was established last year and an human trafficking article that was added to the Immigration Law (移民法).
“I hope that Taiwan will be upgraded to a Tier 1 country because of these efforts to combat human trafficking,” Chien said.
Among the seminar participants are several officials from the US Department of Homeland Security.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
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