President William Lai’s (賴清德) plan to relax restrictions on hiring foreign domestic helpers would worsen migrant workers’ rights in Taiwan and continue the "national disgrace" of failing migrant women's rights, the Awakening Foundation said today.
In an interview published yesterday by the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times), Lai said he is to expand eligibility of families with young children applying for domestic foreign helpers.
Currently, families with two children under six can apply, which is to be expanded to families with just one child up to age 12, to free more women to enter the workforce, he said.
Photo: Taipei Times
About 99 percent of foreign domestic helpers are women and they often face sexual harassment and assault, the foundation said.
Additionally, more than 200,000 foreign domestic helpers are currently not covered by labor law protections, it said.
Migrant workers who are sexually assaulted by their employer’s family members rarely report their assaults and are often coerced into reaching a settlement, according to a recent investigative report conducted by Control Yuan members Wang Mei-yu (王美玉), Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) and Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容).
Moreover, some Taiwanese fugitives wanted on rape charges are still able to legally hire migrant workers, the report found.
The Control Yuan issued corrective measures against the Ministry of Labor, the Chiayi County Government and the Keelung City Government following the report.
The foundation questioned how Taiwan can explain this “national disgrace” and “complete lack of progress” to international women rights experts, as the National Human Rights Commission is set to submit its fifth report regarding the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the middle of next year.
The new policy would further undermine women’s rights, the foundation said, suggesting alternative policy options to counter labor shortages and support women’s participation in the workforce, such as improved public care services and reduced working hours.
Moreover, the government first needs to assess whether wages in Taiwan are competitive enough to attract migrant workers and address the gender pay gap and the wage gap between locals and migrants, it said.
Caregiving responsibilities would still rest on the shoulders of women, who would then be reduced to a secondary labor force, may be forced to leave the workforce early and face an increased risk of poverty in old age, it added.
The foundation strongly urged Lai to reconsider the migrant worker policies.
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