Taiwan lacks a comprehensive support system for victims of image-based sexual abuse, the Modern Women’s Foundation said today, as complaints surged 46 percent last year amid a rise in covert filming cases.
The foundation held an event today on combating image-based sexual violence, calling on all sectors of society to pay attention to the harm caused by such abuse.
A total of 1,521 people filed complaints last year, an increase of 46 percent from 2024, data from the Sexual Image Abuse Reporting Center showed.
Photo: CNA
There were 88 cases of covert filming reported in the news from April last year to last month, an increase of 50 percent from the 58 reported cases in the same period the previous year, showing a sharp increase in such offenses, Modern Women's Foundation secretary-general Wu Tzu-ying (吳姿瑩) said.
Among these 88 cases, 46 involved one-off incidents of covert filming, most of which occurred in public spaces and 42 were repeat offenses, Wu said, adding that most perpetrators exploited their positions to access locations and install hidden recording devices.
The crimes are concealed and ongoing, making them difficult for victims to detect, she said, adding that in one case, the covert filming continued for 13 years.
While current systems can handle individual cases, they lack a holistic view and only respond in fragments, breaking ongoing abuse into separate incidents, Wu said.
Victims are often forced to repeatedly retell their experiences across different channels, leaving them feeling more helpless the more they seek help, Wu added.
Estimates have found that a significant number of people aged 18 to 24 are affected, yet few report the incidents to authorities, highlighting the importance of ensuring that victims are willing and able to seek help, National Chi Pan University professor Wang Pei-lin (王珮玲) said.
South Korea amended its laws to establish a support center for victims of digital sexual crime, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor online spaces and provides a one-stop integrated reporting platform, the professor said.
The center offers services including online consultation, image removal, redistribution monitoring, legal and medical referrals, and case tracking, she said.
Handling such cases requires more than just removing content, but also psychological and legal support, Wang said.
Taiwan’s current multi-agency, fragmented response is largely reactive, while South Korea adopts a victim-centered model with proactive monitoring, cross-agency coordination and trauma recovery support, she said, calling for Taiwan to develop a similar system.
The harm from image-based sexual violence extends beyond the images themselves, often escalating from covert filming to doxxing and online harassment, and even into real-world threats such as stalking, Wu said.
The current system’s fragmented response fails to reflect victims’ real experiences and instead deepens their isolation, the foundation said, urging the government to establish an integrated system and victim-centered one-stop service.
The call comes just a day after a Taiwan High Speed Rail employee in Kaohsiung was released on bail of NT$100,000 following questioning over allegations that he installed a hidden camera on a men’s urinal at Xinzuoying Railway Station, secretly filming hundreds of victims over a nine-month period.
Additional reporting by Pao Chien-hsin
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