Taipei passes penalties for job scams and attempted human trafficking – Khmer Times

A bill which establishes penalties for attempted human trafficking passed the Legislative Yuan Friday, with offenders to face up to seven years in prison.

The newly passed amendments to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act stipulate that those who attempt to use force, threats, intimidation or fraud, to recruit, trade, take into bondage, transport, deliver, receive, harbor, hide, broker, or accommodate a local or foreign individual will receive up to five years in jail.

A penalty of up to seven years in jail will be handed down to offenders who attempt to traffic a minor under 18 year old, according to the amendments.

The amendments were approved by the Cabinet on March 23 and submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review at a time when the government was being urged to tighten punishments for human trafficking and attempted human trafficking.

The public outcry followed a series of incidents last year in which hundreds of Taiwan nationals were lured to Cambodia by criminal gangs with lucrative job offers, only to be held against their will and forced to work in telecoms scams or as prostitutes.

In accordance with international practices, the amendments employ a broad definition of human trafficking, which includes the conduct of offenders who use forced labor, pay their workers disproportionately less than reasonable, treat them as slaves or slave-like victims.

For example, the amendments will apply in cases where a potential victim is prevented from boarding a plane by police intervention at an airport, or otherwise rescued before being trafficked abroad.

Previously the Taiwan authorities were able, based on the need for an investigation or trial, to grant a visitor permit for up to six months to any non-Taiwan national human trafficking victim. The amendments extend the allowable period of stay for such victims to up to one year in a bid to encourage such victims to work with investigators on their cases.

In addition, the amendments also stipulate that these foreign victims will be accommodated in a shelter and granted financial assistance if they stay in Taiwan, as well as being accompanied by law enforcement officials to court hearings related to their cases.

To speed up the investigation process and protect the victims, the amendments also allow individuals to appeal the outcome of cases.

According to the amendments, any offender found guilty by a court, whether an individual or institutions, cannot bid for public work projects for a five-year period.

As of Dec. 12, the Taipei government had assisted with the return of 403 Taiwanese people, many of whom were allegedly lured to Cambodia with offers of fake lucrative jobs and then forced to work for fraud rings.

However, there are still 296 Taiwanese in that situation who have not yet returned to Taiwan, Wallace Chow, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs said at a news briefing last December.

Asked what made it difficult to help the nearly 300 Taiwanese return home, Chow said the Cambodian police recently found many of these fraud rings had left Cambodia to hide in Myanmar or Laos after local police launched a series of raids to track them down.

Therefore, many of these 296 Taiwanese could also be scattered around in different Southeast Asian countries, making it difficult for the Taiwan government to find them and offer assistance, Chow said. Focus Taiwan