Taiwan’s human rights situation showed “no significant changes” and “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses,” the US Department of State said in its abridged annual human rights report released on Tuesday.
Since the 1970s, the US has compiled the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” annually, highlighting human rights abuses such as restrictions on free assembly, unfair elections and the punishment of minority groups.
However, the most recent report was scaled back considerably, with the Taiwan section cut to 13 pages from the 2023 edition’s 31 pages.
Photo: Reuters
The first section of the Taiwan report said there were no reports of forced abortion or sterilization, or extrajudicial killings by authorities last year.
Although the second section said that Taiwan maintains “an independent press, an effective judiciary and a functioning democratic political system,” it mentioned a case from September last year in which a Taiwanese non-governmental organization (NGO) reported that People’s Republic of China authorities had pressured Taiwanese businesses with operations in China to “refrain from advertising with Taiwan media outlets that published content critical” of Beijing.
The report also highlighted poor working conditions for Taiwan’s more than 793,000 migrant workers, largely from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
Migrant fishers reported a lower minimum wage, and were “commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions,” it said.
The report cited NGOs as saying that migrant household workers were underpaid due to poor regulations.
Domestic and manufacturing workers made up the majority of Taiwan’s estimated 87,575 migrant workers “not in touch with their legal employers” and therefore not covered by labor protections.
The report generally praised Taiwan’s occupational health and safety standards, stating that at least 182,000 previously uninsured migrant household workers covered under new government programs, while the Ministry of Labor provides assistance and legal advice 24 hours a day in six languages.
However, NGOs criticized the system, as migrant workers were reluctant to report employers for fear of retaliation or dismissal, or while on board distant-water fishing vessels were unable to access government resources, it said.
While Taiwan’s labor laws “provided for the right of workers to form and join independent unions, conduct strikes and bargain collectively,” teachers and civil servants were prohibited from striking, with labor organizations stating that mediation and legal processes impeded workers’ right to strike, it said.
Although the Minimum Wage Act (最低工資法), passed in December 2023, mandates minimum wage increases every January, to keep them above the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s poverty level, the act does not cover all workers, including managers, doctors, other healthcare workers, gardeners, bodyguards, self-employed lawyers, civil servants and domestic household workers, the report said.
Taiwan had “no significant presence of the worst forms of child labor” last year, but there had been “some reports of child marriages in rural areas,” it said.
The 2023 edition said that child sex trafficking had been reported.
Although Taiwan was unable to cooperate with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or other major international humanitarian organizations due to its “unique political status,” it did allow Chinese nationals seeking asylum to remain in Taiwan on a case-by-case basis, while providing humanitarian and resettlement assistance for Hong Kongers, the report said.
The first such human rights reports since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year have been criticized for largely omitting LGBTQ+ rights violations and giving politically driven assessments, Reuters reported.
The “Discrimination and Societal Abuses” section was entirely removed, as well as the subsections “Women” — encompassing gender-based violence, rape and domestic violence, sex trafficking and reproductive rights — and “Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination.”
The latest report also omitted any mention of issues related to LGBTQ+ identity, gender recognition or indigenous people that had been in previous versions.
Additional reporting by CNA
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