2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

ity in trafficking crimes. The government should
follow through on steps to enact a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law that criminalizes all forms of
trafficking, and assigns penalties both sufficiently
stringent to deter the offense and reflective of the
heinous nature of the crime.
Protection
During the year, the Syrian government made no
progress in protecting trafficking victims. Syria
failed to provide protection services such as shelter,
medical or psychological assistance for victims,
or financially or materially support organizations
that do. The government continues to lack a formal
victim identification procedure to identify potential
trafficking victims among vulnerable populations,
such as illegal migrants or women arrested for
prostitution. As a result, victims may be arrested,
prosecuted, or deported for unlawful acts committed
as a result of being trafficked. Child victims
of commercial sexual exploitation are housed in
juvenile detention facilities. Syria does not actively
encourage victims to assist in investigations against
their traffickers, and does not provide victims with
legal alternatives to removal to countries in which
they may face hardship or retribution.
Prevention
Syria took minimal steps in preventing trafficking
over the year. Syria’s counter-trafficking committee
met at least twice this year to draft a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law. Nonetheless, the government
did not draft a national action plan to combat trafficking
in persons or conduct any public awareness
campaigns to educate employers and workers on
the rights of domestic workers. Syria has not ratified
the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
TAIWAN (Tier 2)
Taiwan is primarily a destination for men, women,
and children trafficked for the purposes of forced
labor and sexual exploitation. Women and girls
from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and
Southeast Asian countries are trafficked to Taiwan
through the use of fraudulent marriages, deceptive
employment offers, and illegal smuggling for
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A
significant share of male and female foreign workers—primarily
from Vietnam, Thailand, and the
Philippines—are recruited legally for low-skilled jobs
in Taiwan’s construction, fishing and manufacturing
industries, or as domestic servants, and are subjected
to forced labor or involuntary servitude by labor
agencies or employers upon arrival in Taiwan. Many
of these contract migrant workers come from poor
rural areas and are forced to pay up to $14,000 to
recruitment agencies or brokers for a job in Taiwan,
resulting in substantial debt that labor agencies or
employers use as a tool for involuntary servitude.
The process for recruitment and placement of
the 340,000 foreign workers in Taiwan—half of
whom are domestic servants or nurses working in
private residences and not protected by Taiwan’s
labor law—lacks regulation and oversight, and may
therefore lead to situations of involuntary servitude.
Traffickers continue to use the recruitment
of foreign brides by legal international marriage
brokers as a means to traffic Southeast Asian
women to Taiwan for sexual exploitation or forced
labor, despite efforts by Taiwan authorities to curb
this channel of trafficking.
Taiwan authorities do not fully comply with the
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, they are making significant efforts
to do so. While the island’s trafficking problems
remain daunting, Taiwan authorities over the last
year showed clear progress in addressing trafficking
for both sexual and labor exploitation. Taiwan
formed its first national plan of action that covers
all forms of trafficking and constituted an interministerial
committee to implement the plan in
coordination with NGOs. After a March 2007 operation
that rescued 35 Indonesian women who were
trafficked to Taiwan through fraudulently brokered
marriages, authorities began referring these and
other victims to NGOs for appropriate care.
Nevertheless, much more remains to be done to
bring Taiwan into compliance with the minimum
standards. Taiwan authorities need to demonstrate
greater political will in tackling the trafficking in
persons problem on the island. Victims of trafficking
should be granted formal protection, including
access to justice in order to obtain compensation
from their traffickers or exploitative employers and
the right to work while awaiting court cases. The
Council on Labor Affairs (CLA) should stop addressing
acts of involuntary servitude with administrative
penalties; instead these serious crimes should be
referred to the appropriate law enforcement authorities
for criminal investigation and, if warranted,
prosecution. Taiwan authorities should do more to
eliminate the ability of labor brokers and employers
to deport workers involuntarily.
Prosecution
The Taiwan authorities made clear efforts to improve
anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the
reporting period. Taiwan does not prohibit all forms
TA I W A N
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