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PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #1561/01 1931034
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121034Z JUL 07
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5957
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7016
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8764
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 8919
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1993
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0395
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8262
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 1218
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 5961
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 001561 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SMIG TW
SUBJECT: (G/TIP) SENIOR COORDINATOR MARK TAYLOR'S JULY 5-7 
VISIT TO TAIPEI AND KAOHSIUNG 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: G/TIP Senior Coordinator Mark Taylor visited 
Taipei and Kaohsiung July 5-7, meeting with government 
officials, NGO representatives, and trafficking victims. 
Taylor acknowledged Taiwan's progress, but urged Taiwan to 
strengthen efforts to detect and shelter TIP victims, and to 
stiffen punishments for those convicted of sex or labor 
trafficking.  Taiwan officials detailed plans to expand 
shelter services, improve coordination with NGOs, and enhance 
cooperation with labor source-country governments to prevent 
and punish trafficking.  They also said Taiwan is considering 
a comprehensive anti-TIP law.  NGOs argued that Taiwan should 
not have been removed from the TIP "Watch List" because, in 
their view, it has failed to implement much of its TIP Action 
Plan.  End Summary. 
 
Taiwan Has Made Progress, But Must Do More 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  G/TIP Senior Coordinator Mark Taylor met jointly on July 
5 with officials from the Interior (MOI), Justice (MOJ), and 
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) ministries, and the Council for Labor 
Affairs (CLA).  Taylor remarked that Taiwan had been removed 
from the Tier 2 Watch List after making significant progress 
over the past year in addressing its sex and labor 
trafficking problems.  However, Taylor pointed out, labor 
brokers continue to hold too much power over foreign 
laborers, and Taiwan authorities fail to properly identify 
significant numbers of TIP victims.  Taiwan should extend 
legal protections to the 170,000 foreign laborers employed as 
domestic helpers or caregivers, and must improve the quality 
and consistency of social services provided to TIP victims 
across the island.  Taylor urged Taiwan to establish clear 
legal and financial incentives for victims to assist in the 
prosecution of their traffickers, and to enhance coordination 
and consultation between law enforcement agencies and NGOs. 
 
Taiwan Promises Continued Anti-TIP Momentum 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Deputy Interior Minister Lin Mei-chu assured Taylor that 
Taiwan is committed to improving its ability to identify and 
protect victims, and to detect and punish traffickers.  MOI, 
MOJ, MOFA, and CLA and other anti-TIP Task Force agencies are 
working with NGOs to increase penalties for traffickers, to 
draft standard procedures for placing TIP victims in shelters 
rather than detention facilities, and to streamline 
procedures for the return of TIP victims to their home 
countries. 
 
¶4.  According to CLA, Taiwan is investigating various methods 
to allow foreign workers to apply directly to CLA for jobs in 
Taiwan, sidestepping the brokerage companies altogether. 
According to CLA, Taiwan already has bilateral agreements to 
this effect in place with Indonesia, the Philippines, 
Thailand and Vietnam.  Related procedures and safeguards are 
still under negotiation.  Taiwan is also considering changing 
its labor laws to allow Taiwan companies to hire workers 
through CLA, or through a local NGO intermediary.  (Note: In 
a separate meeting, several NGOs rejected the latter idea as 
incompatible with the social welfare mission of most NGOs. 
End Note.) 
 
¶5.  According to MOJ, the Taipei High Court Prosecutor's 
Office is considering drafting a comprehensive 
anti-trafficking law, like the U.S. Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act (TVPA).  MOJ officials noted that many judges 
and prosecutors oppose a new law, believing that Taiwan's 
existing laws are sufficient to address Taiwan's trafficking 
problem, especially with the expected passage next year of 
Immigration Law amendments designed to encourage victim 
cooperation with prosecutors.  (Note: A group of prosecutors 
in Kaohsiung told AIT they believed a comprehensive law would 
help them prosecute and convict traffickers who use 
"atypical" forms of coercion against their victims.  End 
Note.) 
 
NGOs: Taiwan Should Have Stayed On The Watch List 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
TAIPEI 00001561  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶6.  NGO representatives who met with Taylor were critical of 
the decision to remove Taiwan from the Tier 2 Watch List, 
asserting that authorities had done very little to implement 
the improved victim protections and enhanced prosecution of 
traffickers outlined by the November 2006 TIP Action Plan. 
Garden of Hope Director Chi Hui-jung told Taylor that only 
two NGOs are invited to attend the bi-monthly meetings of the 
government Task Force, both of which have little direct 
experience with trafficking victims' issues.  Ms. Chi also 
complained that the government should be running its own 
victim shelters, instead of relying on the few existing (and 
increasingly financially strapped) NGO-operated shelters. 
 
¶7.  Representatives from the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and 
Brides Office (VMWBO), Taiwan Women's Rescue Foundation 
(TWRF), and the Hsinchu Catholic Diocese Hope Workers' Center 
(HWC) accused the Taiwan government of placing too much 
stress on the detection and prosecution of traffickers, and 
too little emphasis on the USG-endorsed "victim-centered 
approach."  Taylor met with several Indonesian trafficking 
victims from the group of 35 who had been released from 
detention into NGO care in April 2006. These women reported 
that, for the two months they were detained, they were not 
given access to legal advice or medical services.  The NGO 
representatives contend that this incident proves that Taiwan 
has taken only rudimentary steps toward identifying victims 
and offering them appropriate care. 
 
¶8.  At the National Immigration Agency (NIA) Special 
Operations Brigade in Kaohsiung, 25 men and 35 women were 
being held in two separate holding tanks for suspected 
immigration and/or labor violations.  Several detainees had 
been in detention for more than two months.  Some detainees 
may have been victims of trafficking.  NIA Captain Lin 
Ching-chung told AIT that in the six months of the Special 
Brigade's operation, they had not identified a single victim 
of trafficking, despite having processed 195 separate 
individuals for labor- or immigration-related violations. 
 
TIP Doesn't Get Votes 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  KMT Legislature Joanna Lei told Taylor on July 5 that a 
bill to extend Labor Standards Law protections to domestic 
helpers and caretakers will continue to face opposition from 
elder- and disability-rights activists.  Coupled with a lack 
of support from legislators, the bill is unlikely to pass in 
the near future.  Foreign laborers have little money and 
cannot vote in Taiwan's elections.  Furthermore, there is 
little public sympathy for the plight of trafficking victims, 
especially those coming from Mainland China.  Thus, 
politicians are not motivated to advance the anti-TIP cause 
because it does not help them win elections.  Nonetheless, 
Lei expressed hope that several legislators can be rallied to 
push through a comprehensive anti-trafficking act before the 
end of this legislative session in December. 
 
Comment: Future Efforts 
----------------------- 
 
¶10.  Government officials and NGOs agree that Taiwan's 
current response to the trafficking problem is inadequate. 
Both sides also agree that greater interagency and 
international cooperation is needed to tackle TIP, and that 
limited budgets do not allow for the construction of adequate 
shelters.  There is no consensus on the need for a 
comprehensive anti-TIP law, but there seems to be a growing 
understanding that such a law could help prosecutors convict 
traffickers and cause judges to hand down heavier sentences. 
Although a standardized procedure for identifying and 
processing TIP victims is in place, it does not appear to be 
working properly, due in part perhaps to the unclear 
distribution of responsibility among the government's various 
labor, immigration, and social services agencies.  CLA labor 
inspectors do not have an enforcement mentality, nor the 
authority to actively pursue potential TIP cases.  Lastly, 
victims are reluctant to identify themselves as victims, most 
likely because they fear prosecution for immigration and 
labor violations occasioned by their having been trafficked. 
 
TAIPEI 00001561  003 OF 003 
 
 
Taiwan needs to formally extend immunity and economic 
opportunity to TIP victims to secure their cooperation in 
prosecutions against traffickers. 
 
¶11.  Senior Coordinator Taylor did not have an opportunity to 
review this cable. 
YOUNG