Women’s groups yesterday rejected the Ministry of the Interior’s anti-stalking draft act, saying it was treating the issue as equivalent to sexual harassment and failing to address the need for immediate preventative action.
The abduction and murder of a Chang Jung Christian University student last month has raised concerns about blind spots in public safety, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sandy Yeh (葉毓蘭) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
While public attention is focused on the issue, the government should take the opportunity to pass an anti-stalking bill to rectify the inadequacies in the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法) and Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法), she said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
There are two missing pieces in the nation’s legal protections for women and children: anti-stalking and anti-pornography legislation, Taiwan Coalition Against Violence director-general Peggy Wang (王珮玲) said.
Women’s groups have been calling for action while watching the rest of the world pass related laws, but the government has still not done anything, she said.
After early this year vowing to propose an anti-stalking bill within six months, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) last month released a draft act that shocked and dismayed women’s rights advocates, Wang said.
As the bill considers stalking to be sexual harassment, it includes no provisions for immediate intervention, she said.
There are three core features to anti-stalking legislation around the world, Wang said.
They emphasize advance intervention over retroactive punishment, she said, adding that they also allow for immediate intervention and contain thorough protective order statutes.
The ministry’s version deviates too far from this standard, Wang said, urging the National Police Agency to avoid succumbing to sectionalism and consider a bill that has already been drafted by women’s rights groups.
Harassers not only physically follow their victims, but also virtually stalk them through social media, said Wang Chiu-lan (王秋嵐), director of the Modern Women’s Foundation’s Department of Research and Development.
In the absence of an anti-stalking law, every victim would have to file a sexual harassment complaint with the police, Wang Chiu-lan said.
Such cases take a long time to investigate, potentially forcing the victim to endure harassment until the police can intervene, she said.
What victims need is early intervention, not a response after it is already too late, she added.
Last month’s incident shows that stalking behavior, when not immediately addressed, often evolves into violence, KMT Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said.
Intervening only after tragedy strikes is the wrong way to think about the issue, she said, adding that the main reason for drafting an anti-stalking law is to provide law enforcement with the legal basis to intervene early and effectively.
Stalking is just the beginning of a sequence of events that could end in violence, KMT Legislator Wu I-ding (吳怡玎) said.
More than 8,000 stalking cases are reported every year, she said, adding that if law enforcement had the tools to intervene early, it would reduce the number of domestic violence and sexual harassment incidents, and lighten police officers’ case loads.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
RSS