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PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHHM
DE RUEHIN #1648/01 3290803
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P 240803Z NOV 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
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RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0208
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 001648 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS G/TIP/MARK TAYLOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ELAB TW
SUBJECT: TAIWAN'S NATIONAL IMMIGRATION AGENCY STRENGTHENS 
EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Taiwan is taking concrete steps to 
strengthen anti-trafficking efforts, including, for example, 
implementing measures to protect victims and allow them to 
obtain temporary work and residency permits, emphasize 
National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials.  Moreover, 
Taiwan's Executive Yuan (EY) has approved a draft 
comprehensive trafficking law for submission to the 
Legislative Yuan (LY).  NIA officials, who hope these and 
other steps will help Taiwan return to Tier 1 status in the 
U.S. TIP report, tell us they face challenges in addressing 
TIP issues, including the lack of official relations with 
labor source countries and the need to extend labor 
protections to domestic caregivers.  The recent visit by DOJ 
senior TIP prosecutor helped further U.S.-Taiwan discussions 
and provided working-level Taiwan law enforcement authorities 
with concrete models for action.  NIA supports better 
coordination between and among Taiwan authorities and NGOs, 
systematic implementation of victim identification procedures 
and protections, and extension of labor protections to 
domestic caregivers. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Over the course of two recent anti-trafficking 
conferences and a separate meeting with AIT, National 
Immigration Agency (NIA) Deputy Director General Hsieh 
Li-kung outlined NIA's efforts to implement a comprehensive 
plan to combat trafficking in persons.  He noted the budget 
for NIA's 3-year (2008-2010) TIP plan is NTD 390 million 
(more than USD 10 million).  These funds will be used for 
training, public awareness, constructing and improving 
shelters, and subsidizing measures such as repatriation 
costs.  Prior to passage of a comprehensive trafficking law, 
Hsieh noted, NIA has instituted an ad interim Chapter in the 
Immigration Act on the prevention of trafficking and 
protection of trafficking victims.  The new provisions allow 
trafficking victims to obtain temporary work and residency 
permits and require that authorities provide protective 
measures under the Witness Protection law to victims who 
testify.  (Note: Taiwan's draft comprehensive trafficking law 
has successfully passed the Executive Yuan interagency review 
and is set to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan before its 
current session ends in December, according to NIA contacts.) 
 
Education and Awareness 
----------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) Prevention is a key component of Taiwan's 
anti-trafficking action plan, said Hsieh. Therefore, the NIA 
has shared its training materials with the Ministry of 
Education, which has incorporated them into elementary school 
social studies curriculum, clear evidence of Taiwan's 
long-term commitment to anti-trafficking. In addition, the 
NIA has plans to continue its public awareness campaign with 
multi-lingual brochures that provide workers with TIP 
indicators and telephone numbers for NIA's trafficking 
hotline and the police.  NIA is also producing new Public 
Service Announcements (PSAs) to be aired on TV and in movie 
theaters, and flyers and cards to be distributed at locations 
such as bus stops and convenience stores. 
 
Interagency Cooperation 
----------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) Although NIA does not have authority over other key 
stakeholders, such as the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), the 
Ministry of Justice, and others, it recognizes that a 
successful TIP program will require the buy-in of all 
agencies who may encounter trafficking during the course of 
executing their responsibilities, DDG Hsieh said.  As a 
result, NIA suggested expanding the membership of the Human 
Trafficking Prevention Coordination Committee, which now 
 
TAIPEI 00001648  002 OF 003 
 
 
includes the deputy heads of fourteen agencies and a number 
of outside experts including scholars and NGOs.  Even the 
Office of Veterans Affairs is included, Hsieh added. 
 
Department of Justice (DOJ) Speaker's Presentation Lauded 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
¶5. (SBU) Jim Felte, Senior Prosecutor in USDOJ's Human 
Trafficking Unit and a featured speaker at both the NIA's and 
Legal Aid Foundation's two separate anti-trafficking 
conferences, was well-received by all participants, said NIA 
conference organizers.  Felte also participated in a NGO 
roundtable and a Ministry of Justice seminar for trafficking 
prosecutors, where question-and-answer sessions typically 
took the better part of an hour.  Both the NGO 
representatives as well as Taiwan authorities felt that 
Felte's presentation on U.S. experiences in prosecuting 
traffickers and providing victim protections both 
acknowledged the challenges to anti-trafficking efforts and 
provided a launching point for serious discussion of ways in 
which Taiwan could approach these challenges. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Felte noted that questions, particularly those from 
Taiwan prosecutors, focused on overcoming real problems in 
pursuing trafficking cases, rather than attempting to justify 
why Taiwan should not or could not pursue these cases - an 
indication, he believed, that the commitment exists to 
seriously address the TIP issue. 
 
The Fourth "P" - Partnership 
---------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) In addition to the three "Ps" of Taiwan's 
anti-trafficking plan - prevention, prosecution, and 
protection, Hsieh underlined the importance of a "fourth P - 
partnership."  Despite the lack of diplomatic recognition by 
labor source countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and 
Indonesia, Taiwan, through the Council of Labor Affairs and 
TECRO offices abroad, is reaching out to these countries in 
an effort to coordinate repatriations, encourage better 
monitoring of foreign brokers, and provide information to 
foreign laborers on their way to Taiwan. 
 
Improving Victim Protections 
---------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) DDG Hsieh said that, in addition to improving 
existing detention facilities, NIA plans to set up four new 
NIA-run shelters.  NIA also hopes to complete plans to 
integrate interpreter resources from various agencies into 
one unified database by the end of year.  Hsieh underscored 
the need for labor source countries to initiate protections 
as well, and for Taiwan to either incorporate domestic 
caregivers into the Labor Standards Act, which provides labor 
protections for Taiwan workers, or find another way to extend 
more comprehensive protections to this vulnerable group of 
foreign workers. 
 
Challenges 
---------- 
¶9. (SBU) DDG Hsieh and other panelists from MOI, CLA, and 
elsewhere noted that Taiwan faces special challenges in the 
international arena.  At a regional level, officials 
complained that the lack of official relations with labor 
source countries complicates cooperation on regulatory issues 
such as those dealing with employment brokers and lenders. 
In addition, Taiwan's lack of standing in the UN makes it 
difficult to participate fully in international efforts to 
cooperatively address trafficking issues.  Officials 
expressed interest in the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial 
Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT), but as COMMIT is a 
 
TAIPEI 00001648  003 OF 003 
 
 
UN Inter-Agency Project initiative, they regretted that 
Taiwan's participation, at best, would be limited to 
unofficial actors.  These challenges would complicate efforts 
to formulate regional strategies to combat trafficking, a 
goal that all parties recognize will require Taiwan's 
participation to accomplish. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Within Taiwan, there is still more work to be done, 
noted Hsieh.  The issue of domestic caregivers, who currently 
do not enjoy any labor protections either under the 
Employment Services Act or the Labor Standards Act, should be 
addressed, but for many live-in domestic workers, it is hard 
to draw clear distinctions between working hours, standby 
time, and off hours. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶11. (SBU) NIA, which has consistently demonstrated a strong 
commitment to push forward the anti-TIP agenda, has already 
instituted wide-ranging reforms from establishing trafficking 
hotlines to building new shelters to training law enforcement 
on various components of human trafficking.  NIA efforts, 
however, will not be enough on their own to ensure the full 
success of Taiwan's anti-TIP program.  Such success will also 
require an equivalent commitment by the Council of Labor 
Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and other agencies to the 
overall anti-TIP program (septel).  One important factor that 
is motivating Taiwan to achieve its TIP goals is the desire 
to reclaim Tier 1 status in the annual U.S. TIP Report, as a 
matter of pride. 
RWANG