With domestic violence against foreign spouses on the rise, a legislative committee approved an amendment yesterday that would include immigration personnel in prevention efforts.
The Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee approved revisions to Article 50 of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法). The current provision states that medical and social workers, clinical and educational personnel, welfare workers and law enforcement personnel must immediately inform local authorities of any suspected domestic violence.
The committee attached a resolution to the amendment asking the Ministry of the Interior to plan budgets for domestic violence and sexual offense prevention programs within a week. The budget would be funded by the four-year, NT$500 billion (US$14.7 billion) economic stimulus plan.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) said that about NT$30 billion of the economic stimulus package could be used for such purposes.
Statistics showed that more than 408,000 foreign spouses were in Taiwan last August. Among them, about 21,000 suffered from domestic violence between 2003 and last year.
Taiwan had more than 33,000 reported cases of violent crime between January and August last year. Among those, about 4,600, or 14 percent, involved foreign spouses.
Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛), deputy executive secretary of the Council for Control and Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sex Violation, said that January saw an 8.9 percent increase in cases of domestic violence compared with the same period last year, and that last year’s number was 10 percent higher than the previous year.
About 90 percent of the cases were reported by police, medical or social workers, with only 10 percent coming from concerned neighbors or borough wardens.
More women were victims of domestic violence than men, Chang said, with a 19:1 ratio. KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said the number of Taiwanese men could be much higher, but many were reluctant to report abuse for fear that their wives would be deported.
Meanwhile, the same committee yesterday passed a motion to improve access at the legislative compound for those with physical disabilities.
The motion was filed by KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyong (徐中雄), who disabled. He said the resolution was long overdue because he has been working at the legislature for 17 years and has had to climb the stairs of one of the compound’s buildings to attend meetings.
He would like to see it equipped with elevators within six months or see those responsible for delays held accountable.
Huang said that even if the elevators cannot be installed in six months, the committees that hold meetings in the building should be relocated to an adjacent building with elevators.
The committee also agreed to invite the Ministry of Justice, the Investigation Bureau and the National Archives Administration to deliver a special report on the abandoned documents and body parts in jars that were recently found at the bureau’s deserted Ankeng Guesthouse in Taipei County.
The guesthouse was once used as an office by the notorious Taiwan Garrison Command to question dissidents and criminal suspects during the Martial Law era.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS