and Southeast Asian countries were trafficked to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages, deceptive employment offers, and illegal smuggling for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Such workers were often charged high job placement and service fees, up to $14,000, resulting in substantial debt that labor brokers or employers use as a tool for involuntary servitude.
[8][9][10][11][12] The Taiwanese government made significant efforts in investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes over the last year, particularly involving labor exploitation.
However, this law does not apply to the 160,000 foreign workers employed as private nursing caregivers or domestic helpers on Taiwan, who are especially vulnerable to labor exploitation.
During the reporting period, there were confirmed incidents of several local authorities accepting bribes and sexual services in return for ignoring illegal sex and labor trafficking activities.
Of the nine local authorities charged with aiding or abetting trafficking activities in 2007, one was sentenced to 12 years in prison and the remaining eight cases are still pending.
The bill would impose a 10-year term of imprisonment and a NT$10 million ($305,000 US dollar) fine for traffickers convicted of forcing victims to engage in prostitution.
During the reporting period, some identified victims, the majority of whom were held in detention facilities, were prosecuted for immigration, labor, and criminal law violations.
In July 2007, the Executive Yuan approved the “Human Trafficking Implementation Plan,” setting aside $12.6 million for construction and improvement of shelter facilities, education, and training for authorities.
[14] The Taiwan authorities report that their efforts to combat trafficking abroad are hampered by a lack of formal diplomatic relations with source-country governments and an inability to join relevant international organizations.
The authorities also continued an outreach program to enhance foreign workers’ understanding of their rights and the resources available to them, which included the distribution of multilingual emergency contact cards, announcements in foreign-language publications, and radio and television advertisements.
Advertisements, public service announcements, materials on human trafficking, and trainings for the vulnerable populations were continues to be funded by various agencies.
[13] These efforts were maintained in 2018, additionally NGO concerns were divided into two subgroups by authorities, one to focus on domestic workers and the other on migrant fishermen.
The Fisheries Agency (FA) handed out information cards about workers' rights and hotline number to foreign crewmembers during random inspections.
[14] Early 2019, the NIA launched a program for foreign individuals to willingly turn themselves in when they overstay their visas and receive reduced penalties.