Taiwan has launched its first-ever study of institutional sexual assault cases against children and teens, with the aim of tackling the issue more effectively and reducing such crimes, Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday.
“To understand the structural factors of the problem, the National Human Rights Commission of the Control Yuan has begun a campaign to discover the reasons for these offenses,” Chen said at a news conference alongside Control Yuan members Chang Chu-fang (張菊芳) and Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇).
Police reported 7,787 sexual assault cases last year, with 4,520 involving victims younger than 18, Chen said, citing Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics.
Photo: CNA
A national report showed that 233 children and young adults in 2020 were sexually abused or attacked at elementary or high schools in Taiwan, she said.
The commission is exploring the problem through written and oral interviews, she said.
“We must find out the circumstances in which these assaults occurred so that we can understand what is wrong in our systems, and not stop at investigating individual cases,” she said.
Tien called child and juvenile victims of sexual abuse “survivors” and said she knows it is not easy for them to speak about their experiences.
The commission plans to interview 500 victims of sexual abuse at halfway houses or schools — 100 in-person and 400 through written and telephone interviews, Chen said.
Interviews are to involve child and juvenile victims, along with adults who experienced a sexual assault as a child or teenager, with the investigation to conclude in July next year, Chang said.
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight
While it is common to see bumper stickers informing other drivers about important information, such as “baby on board” or “rookie driver,” some motorist in Taiwan are using creative statements to warn other drivers to keep a safe distance to avoid a collision. A photograph recently circulating on the Internet showed a van in Changhua City with a bumper sticker saying that the driver received their license after taking the test three times, so it is dangerous to drive close to the vehicle. The person who took the photograph said all vehicles behind the van appeared to “subconsciously” maintaining a safe distance. Some