The military reported 41 confirmed sexual harassment incidents last year, a 52 percent increase over 27 cases reported the previous year, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan.
Reported cases of sexual harassment have been on the rise nearly every year after 2016, the ministry said in a report dated April 30.
From 2016 to last year, the military handled 245 sexual harassment allegations, including 157 that were later proven, and 58 that went to trial but did not result in a conviction, the report said.
Twenty-six cases were later dropped, and four remain in the legal process, it said.
Allegations and convictions rose almost annually from 38 allegations and 24 proven cases in 2016 to 65 allegations and 41 proven cases last year, it said.
It indicated in the report that biographical information is available for analysis in 172 cases.
Male on female harassment, which accounted for 160 cases, was by far the most prevalent in the military, followed by 11 cases of male on male harassment and one case of female on female harassment.
The perpetrator was the victim’s superior in 103 cases and of lower rank in four cases, while 99 of the incidents involved a perpetrator in a leadership position, 63 involved colleagues and 21 involved a person pursuing a relationship with another, the report showed.
The victim was a military service member of non-commissioned rank in 75 cases, enlisted rank in 51 cases, a lieutenant or captain in 12 and major or colonel in three.
Out of 241 incidents, 184 involved inappropriate touching; 33 involved sending or sharing images without consent or sending unwanted texts; 20 involved humiliating, derogatory or hostile language; and four involved recording a person without their consent.
Military sexual harassment is most likely to occur in the office, which accounted for 142 cases, while 25 incidents occurred during a victim’s commute, 17 occurred through text messages and 10 in restaurants or hotels.
About 25,000, or 13.75 percent, of military service members are women, the report said, adding that the number of women in the military is increasing every year.
The ministry used different pools of cases in its tabulations, and in some cases did not provide an explanation.
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