Thu, Jun 12, 2025 page3

• Government guidance to prevent forced labor needed: survey

  • By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA
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  Nearly three-quarters of the nation’s leading enterprises hope the government would provide better guidelines to stop forced labor and protect human rights, a survey released yesterday showed.

  Taiwan’s reputation as a global leader in the semiconductor industry is undermined by the government’s meager efforts to prevent labor abuses, Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam (孫友聯) said.

  Citing a survey of the nation’s top 500 enterprises by paid-in capital conducted jointly by the organization and the National Human Rights Commission, Son said that only 18 percent of companies had established a dedicated department to combat labor exploitation in their supply chain.

  

  Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam, third left, attends a news conference in Taipei with other labor group representatives yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Nearly 70 percent of enterprises provided employees with training to prevent labor abuse and 68.9 percent provided the same training to suppliers, he said, adding that 70.2 percent conducted internal audits on risks of labor abuse.

  Son added that 60.7 percent of enterprises conducted audits on the risk of labor abuses in their supply chain, which is a relatively low ratio.

  However, close to 70 percent of enterprises warn companies in their supply chain to avoid using forced labor or risk losing their procurement contracts, he said.

  About the same ratio of enterprises have internal mechanisms for employees to report forced labor or other abuses, but more than 50 percent did not establish such mechanisms to regulate companies in their supply chain, he said.

  More than 30 percent of enterprises said they did not understand the government’s “National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights,” more than 90 percent reported not receiving any subsidies to implement the plan and only 38.6 percent had established policies to compensate forced labor, he said.

  The survey showed that 78.3 percent of enterprises hoped the government would publish clear guidelines for the private sector to implement the business and human rights action plan, Son said.

  This should include instructions regarding ethical standards and legal obligations expected of businesses, and advice on employee education, he said.

  The government has long shifted the responsibility for investigating labor abuses to the private sector, said Chiu Yu-fan (邱羽凡), an associate professor of law at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.

  The failure of the government to safeguard workers’ rights has compromised Taiwan’s labor and human rights record, he said.

  Responsible agencies must take charge in ensuring the private sector’s compliance with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, or risk tarnishing the nation’s reputation, he said.

  The Ministry of Economic Affairs has not published the long-awaited Taiwan supply chain enterprise human rights guidelines it was tasked to write, he said.

  Taiwanese exports could be subject to trade restrictions abroad, he added.

  The survey also suggested that local enterprises only recognize overtime work, but not less visible forms of labor abuses, such as the exploitation of migrant workers, he said.

  This blind spot puts the nation behind global labor protection standards, Chiu said.

  The Ministry of Labor should assist companies in identifying forced labor, while the Financial Supervisory Commission’s sustainability report should include credible third-party human rights certification to meet the goal of protecting human rights, he said.
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