The Ministry of the Interior yesterday launched the International Workshop on Combating Human Trafficking in Taipei, which aims to stop trafficking crimes by cooperating with the international community and the private sector in Taiwan.
Although foreign representatives were not able to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop was still attended by the members of foreign representative offices and non-governmental organizations in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said on the first day of the two-day workshop.
The workshop, held annually by the ministry, serves as an international platform for exchanges on strategies to address trafficking crimes.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of the Interior
It allows Taiwan to share its experience with the world, Chen said, adding that the nation was ranked the world’s second-safest country in the Crime Index by Country 2020 Mid-Year survey conducted by the online database Numbeo.
Trafficking crimes in Taiwan mostly take the form of labor exploitation and sex exploitation, the ministry said in a press release.
The number of foreign victims of trafficking receiving placement aid and protection from the government last year dropped to 92, the lowest since the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法) was enacted in 2009, it said.
While there are more than 700,000 migrant workers in Taiwan, some of them might not be able to report crimes due to language barriers, so the government has been promoting public awareness on how to recognize “help” in sign language, it said.
Workshop brochures have also included information written in multiple languages to inform readers how to use sign language to ask for help, it said.
Addressing the workshop, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen validated Taiwan’s long-time commitment to human-trafficking prevention, saying that human rights are a fundamental value of a democracy.
Taiwan has been given “Tier 1” status in the Trafficking in Persons Report conducted by the US State Department for the 11th straight year this year, showing its outstanding performance in democracy and disease prevention, Christensen said.
Commenting on the alleged abuse of migrant fishers by employers last month on the Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessel Da Wang (大旺), Chen said that the case has been referred to judicial authorities for further investigation.
The Executive Yuan’s inter-ministerial platform has put the rights of fishers on the top of its priority list in an effort to improve their work and living conditions, he said.
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