The Control Yuan yesterday put forth a series of proposals, including the establishment of a whistle-blower protection program, to improve protections for children who have been sexually abused.
Control Yuan member Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) and three other members told a news conference that the recommendations were part of a review of major sexual abuse cases involving minors over the past 10 years.
One of the proposals seeks to establish a whistle-blower program, under which people’s identities and right to work would be protected when they report cases of child sexual abuse.
The government should also set up an independent mechanism, either at the national or local level, to investigate and review reports of abuse, the Control Yuan members said.
More broadly, the government should expand education on children’s rights to break “the culture of silence” around such crimes, and allocate more funds for legal oversight, they said.
The Control Yuan panel also gave a briefing on its investigations into 17 major cases of child sexual abuse, which it said had formed the basis of its recommendations.
ABUSE ON CAMPUS
Eleven of the cases had occurred on school campuses, two at daycare centers and four at disabled care facilities, Chi said.
In 13 of the cases, the offender was an authority figure such as a teacher, coach or supervisor, she said.
Chi said that in 12 of the cases, one person had abused several victims, while five cases involved multiple offenders and victims, and four involved instances in which a victim became an abuser.
In total, the 17 cases involved about 113 offenders and 247 victims, she said.
Reports of sexual assault and harassment on school campuses have been rising steadily in Taiwan since 2006, with 94.3 percent of the 8,160 abuse cases reported last year involving students aged 12 to 18, Chi said.
Panel member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said several of the 17 cases involved male victims, which reflects changing attitudes toward male survivors of sexual abuse.
The Control Yuan’s final report on the issue is due on July 31 next year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS