
Taiwan foreign workers ★ some in degrading and unhygienic conditions, some offer bad service ★ world No. 1 in 2020~26, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12 ★ Top since 1998 ★	fights for rights

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Taiwan

abuses foreign workers for years

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recruiting Indian workers
★Taipei Times, 2026-4-17	recruiting Indian workers has stoked widespread fears of the "deterioration of gender equality and social security". KMT demands premier brief lawmakers on recruitment; and asks the Cabinet to halt its plan until the problem of absconding migrant workers is solved. "In India, women are not treated with dignity," Fu (傅崐萁) said. "To protect women in Taiwan, must let the people know whether it is ready for the influx of advancing Indian migrant workers and the ensuing social security concerns". Taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/04/17/2003855786
★First Post (India), 2026-4-14	Taiwan's labor minister Hsu said Taiwan would prefer workers from India's northeast, citing their ‘skin colour’ and food habits as being similar to those of Taiwanese people; and that most of them are Christians. The remarks triggered backlash across the political spectrum... The Taiwanese government issued a formal apology. Currently, the opposition says Taiwan already faces a serious and long-standing issue of migrant workers absconding from their contracts. Officials have accused the KMT of politicising the issue and portraying the policy in extreme terms. firstpost.com/explainers/is-taiwans-plan-to-introduce-migrant-workers-from-india-in-trouble-14000287.html
★ The China Times (2026-4-17)	Immigrant workers in Taiwan : 800+ thousands, run-away: 90+ thousands. The worst issue is Taiwan's agency system. chinatimes.com/opinion/20260417004243-262101?chdtv

pic. : No.1 "international laborers in Taiwan" on Baidu, 2026-5-9, 2026-1-3

pic. : No.1 "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Baidu, 2026-5-9

pic. : No.1 "international laborers in Taiwan" on Yandex, 2026-5-9, 2026-1-3, 2025-11-9, 2025-7-8, 2025-2-4, 2024-9-7, 2024-4-27, 2024-2-17, 2023-11-13, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-3, 2023-4-2, 2023-1-11, 2022-10-3 ;The websites group was ranked No.1 "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia , 2026-1-3, 2025-11-9, 2025-7-8, 2025-2-4, 2024-9-7, 2024-4-27, 2024-2-17, 2023-11-13, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-3, 2023-4-2, 2023-1-11, 2021-9-12, 2021-5-17; No.1 "Taiwan foreign laborers" on Yandex of Russia , 2026-1-3, 2025-11-9, 2025-2-4

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★ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Taiwan , 2025-8-13 : Migrant fishermen on vessels operating outside Taiwan's territorial seas had a lower minimum wage. NGOs reported that due to the absence of work hour regulations, the actual pay of foreign household workers fell below the national minimum wage. Wage and overtime violations were most common in the manufacturing, domestic car, and fisheries sectors employing migrant laborers; however, white-collar workers also faced overtime violations. The most common violation was urging employees to accept extra leave time instead of overtime pay. foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses due to fear the employer would terminate their contract. Workers also struggled with accessing the hotline while at sea. Migrant fishermen were commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions. estimated more than 87,575 migrant workers were not in touch with their legal employers and likely remained informally employed elsewhere, not enjoying applicable labor protections. Studies suggested employment of such undocumented migrant workers was concentrated in the domestic work and manufacturing sectors. state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/

★ CNN, 2025-7-13: Taiwan operates the world's second-largest distant-water fishing fleet. Since 2020, the US Department of Labor has listed Taiwan's distant-water fishing industry as showing signs of forced labor, highlighting issues such as deceptive recruitment, withheld wages, physical violence and extreme working hours. Taiwan's distant-water fishing industry depends on more than 20,000 Indonesian and Filipino workers, but political will to protect their rights is lacking. “Even though the US has labeled Taiwan's fishing industry since 2020, the government responded with rhetoric but very little was changed”. Even basic safety measures were ignored, with some told not to wear life jackets because they “got in the way” of their work. Taiwan's Fisheries Agency said it has introduced reforms since 2022; But activists criticized the measures as cosmetic, saying they were aimed at improving Taiwan's image rather than addressing the root causes of forced labor. msn.com/en-us/news/world/taiwan-is-held-up-as-a-bastion-of-liberal-values-but-migrant-workers-report-abuse-injury-and-death-in-its-fishing-industry/ar-AA1IuAKh?ocid=BingNewsVerp

★ 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report: Taiwan (state.gov/reports/2025-trafficking-in-persons-report/taiwan ) : Taiwan authorities investigated fewer cases, prosecuted fewer suspects, and did not fully implement victim identification procedures, complicating some victims' access to justice and protective care. Human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Taiwan, and traffickers exploit victims from Taiwan abroad. Traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone applications, livestreaming, and other online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement. Traffickers lure women from China and Southeast Asian countries to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment offers for purposes of sex trafficking. Many trafficking victims are migrant workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and, to a lesser extent, China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai nationals continue to represent most foreign sex trafficking and forced labor victims in Taiwan. Some foreign workers incur substantial debts, which brokers or employers use as tools of coercion to force workers into debt bondage. Some traffickers use Indonesian-owned stores in Taiwan as illegal remittance channels, confining Indonesian workers and subjecting them to sex trafficking. Traffickers reportedly take advantage of relaxed visa requirements under Taiwan's “New Southbound Policy” to lure Southeast Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking. For-profit universities in Taiwan use third party recruitment agents to recruit foreign students – including from Indonesia, Eswatini, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Vietnam – to fill enrollment gaps and subsequently place them into exploitative labor conditions under the pretense of educational opportunities. Some students are unaware of the work component prior to arrival.

★ South China Morning Post, 2025-10-2 : With tensions mounting across the Taiwan Strait, the fate of the island's nearly 1 million foreign residents is often overlooked amid the geopolitical calculations. For many migrant workers, that awakens fear that they could be collateral damage, caught in the crossfire and left wondering whether they will be rescued. In August, a closed-door exercise in Singapore to game out scenarios were 1 million Asean workers stranded by a China blockade. The reported outcome saw rescue only possible after Singapore convinced Beijing to allow an evacuation. "The last thing China wants to do is attack Taiwan and kill 1 million Aseans," said an expert at Polytechnic University of the Philippines.yahoo.com/news/articles/migrant-workers-taiwan-threat-beijing-093000364.html

★ al jazeera , 2025-7-8: The number of unaccounted-for migrants on the island has doubled in the last four years, reaching 90,000 this January, according to the Ministry of Labor. Many undocumented workers can actually earn more without a broker, “but then you lose all social protections and health insurance.

★ RestOfWorld.org , 2025-6-4 (restofworld.org/2025/filipino-workers-taiwan-chip-industry/):
Taiwan's chip plants run on migrant workers. Job brokers run their lives. In Taiwan's AI-fueled chip boom, brokers control everything from paychecks to dorm beds, leaving workers feeling trapped and exploited.
Filipino workers in Taiwan's booming semiconductor industry face long hours, low pay, and second-class treatment.
They perform more difficult and riskier work.
For semiconductor companies, the environment is often military-style, Twelve-hour shifts are the norm, but 16-hour days are not unusual. They said that at some factories they are punished for small mistakes. One worker said she was bullied for months and forced to resign after she complained. Another one said most days, she would sit in her room and cry.
★ RestOfWorld.org , 2025-5-28: brokers use misinformation to manipulate their clients, preying on their limited knowledge of Taiwan’s labor regulations. Around seven out of 10 migrants seeking the shelter's help have trouble with their broker. They're then stuffed into dormitories owned by broker agencies, with more than 10 people in a small room sometimes, often with strict curfews; , many Filipinos said they lose around a fifth of their salary to brokers. Taiwan's undocumented labor force has nearly doubled since 2021, reaching a record high... It is not clear how many of them work in the tech sector.

No.1 "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Yandex , 2026-1-3, 2025-11-9, 2025-7-8, 2025-2-4, 2024-9-7, 2024-5-1, 2024-4-27, 2024-2-17, 2023-11-13 (Chinese version)

pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 "international workers in Taiwan" on Yandex , 2026-1-3, 2025-11-9, 2025-2-4, 2024-9-7, 2024-4-27, 2024-2-17, 2023-6-16, 2023-5-3, 2023-4-2, 2022-7-4, 2022-6-16, 2019-5-13; No.2 at 2023-11-13, 2023-1-11

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★ 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Taiwan (state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/taiwan/ ) : Traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and they subject local men and women to forced labor and local women and children to sex trafficking. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone applications, livestreaming, and other online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement. Taiwan traffickers also exploit persons with disabilities in sex trafficking. Traffickers subject these workers to punishment for poor performance and disobedience, including, but not limited to, physical abuse, wage-docking, and debt-bondage, and may “resell” those who cannot meet sales quotas or repay recruitment debts to other criminal networks – for forced labor in similar fraud schemes, domestic servitude, or sex trafficking. Traffickers lure women from the PRC and Southeast Asian countries to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment offers for purposes of sex trafficking. Foreign brokers often require migrant workers to pay exorbitantly high recruitment fees and deposits, As a result, some foreign workers incur substantial debts, which brokers or employers use as tools of coercion to force workers into debt bondage. Taiwan’s labor brokers receive substantial kick-backs from foreign recruiters, and observers allege that at times brokers use migrant workers as money mules to move cash to Taiwan-based brokers; Domestic workers and home caregivers are also especially vulnerable to exploitation, Some traffickers use Indonesian-owned stores in Taiwan as illegal remittance channels, confining Indonesian workers and subjecting them to sex trafficking. Traffickers reportedly take advantage of relaxed visa requirements under Taiwan's “New Southbound Policy” to lure Southeast Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking. According to NGOs, a large number of for-profit universities in Taiwan aggressively recruit foreign students and subsequently place them into exploitative labor conditions under the pretense of educational opportunities. These students are often unaware of the work component prior to arrival.
fishermen working on Taiwan-owned and -flagged and Taiwan- owned, foreign-flagged fishing vessels have experienced non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep, substandard safety equipment, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks through the continued imposition of recruitment fees and deposits. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and non-contractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs to retain their labor. These abuses are particularly prevalent in Taiwan's DWF .

★ United daily (聯合報), 2025-2-22: It has become the norm for foreign caregivers not to abide by their working contracts or/and to "avoid the severe ill patients or the disability".

udn.com/news/story/7339/8564000?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7339_pulldownmenu_v2

張姮燕／義守大學教授

★ The Indian Express, 2025-2-1: Taipei has expressed a preference to hire these workers from India's northeastern states, citing cultural similarities and easy assimilation. Taiwan will deploy Indian blue-collar workers in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and construction amid labour shortages created by an ageing population and lower birth rates. indianexpress.com/article/india/taiwan-to-take-in-1000-indian-workers-recruitment-talks-on-with-northeastern-states-9806702/

★ GreenPeace, 2024-9-6: The U.S. Department of Labor's latest “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor”once again shows that the majority of migrant workers on Taiwan's distant water fishing vessels are experiencing indicators of forced labor. workers face hunger and dehydration, live in degrading and unhygienic conditions, are subjected to physical violence and verbal abuse, are prevented from leaving the vessel or ending their contracts, and are frequently not paid their promised wages or have food and lodging fees illegally deducted from their wages.” It also notes that the majority of fishers have been deceived by recruitment organizations with false information about wages and contracts, and have been forced to pay recruitment fees, incur debt, face confiscation of their identity documents, and work in poor conditions for 18 to 22 hours a day。Since 2020, when fish from Taiwan was first included in this list, all the actions taken by the Taiwanese Fisheries Agency have been for getting off the list instead of eliminating forced labor. The government’s passive attitude towards combating human trafficking and ending modern-day slavery and focus on maximizing the profits of the fishing industry, and its disregard for the dignity of the fisher’s labor and basic human rights, deserves to be condemned by international society and should be severely sanctioned. greenpeace.org/usa/news/us-department-of-labor-fish-from-taiwan-is-caught-with-forced-labor/

★ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Taiwan , 2024-4-22 : Migrant fishermen on vessels operating outside Taiwan's territorial seas had a lower minimum wage. Foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract. Workers also struggled with accessing the hotline while at sea. Migrant fishermen were commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions. Fisheries Agency officers in six locations overseas and in some domestic ports monitored and inspected docked Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels, using a multilingual questionnaire to interview migrant fishermen and examine labor conditions onboard.

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★ United Daily (Taiwan) , 2024-11-1: Almost one out of every ten migrant workers run away. The problem of missing (run-away) migrant workers is serious. Many of them are illegal workers, illegal brokers, and get involved fraud, and illegal drugs. They run away are for debt, high agent fees, better money, some are for poor working conditions.

udn.com/news/story/10469/8330004?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub10469_pulldownmenu_v2

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★ The Oriental Economist, 2024-6-4 : Allegations of Forced Labor at Japanese Auto Parts Supplier in Taiwan / According to ILO of the United Nations (UN), debt bondage is considered a key indicator of forced labor. Confiscation of identity documents, threats, intimidations, and abuses of vulnerability experienced by interviewees ...are not uncommon among Taiwan's migrant workers... High recruitment fees charged by overseas recruiters, unavoidable fees charged by local intermediaries, confiscation of passports, restrictions on changing workplaces, and all the inherent vulnerabilities to further abuses toyokeizai.net/articles/-/757969

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★ SCMP (Hong Kong), 2024-6-29: Influx of Indian workers in Taiwan? Firms roll out welcome mat, but ‘prejudices’ lurk. India could send workers on a "government-to-government" basis rather than through private brokers who charge workers a range of fees, according to the memorandum signed.Workers subject to brokerage fees often arrive from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. msn.com/en-xl/money/other/influx-of-indian-workers-in-taiwan-firms-roll-out-welcome-mat-but-prejudices-lurk/ar-BB1p6Kdw?ocid=BingNewsVerp Ralph Jennings

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★ Nikkei Asia (Japan), 2024-3-16 : Japan battles Taiwan and South Korea for foreign workers / Japan seeks to become more attractive to international workers under legislation approved by the cabinet on Friday, as competition for foreign labor intensifies with South Korea and Taiwan.

★ EurAsian Times, 2024-2-17 :Throwing caution to the winds, Braving China's wrath and sidelining its One China principle, India took a decisive step when it signed an agreement with Taiwan to ease its labor shortage. Tthe demand for labor in Taiwan, spanning sectors like manufacturing, construction, and agriculture, continues to outstrip local availability, leading to a yearly uptick in demand for migrant workers. there could be security issues. In addition to the tension that continues on the India-China border, India will have to worry about its citizens in Taiwan in the event of an all-out China-Taiwan war. eurasiantimes.com/india-sidelines-one-china-policy-seals-pact-with-taiwa/

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★ Reuters, 2024-2-16 : Taiwan, a major semiconductor producer but with an ageing society, is host to around 700,000 migrant workers. Taiwan agrees to bring in Indian migrant workers to ease job crunch. A small-scale pilot scheme will start first. aol.com/taiwan-agrees-bring-indian-migrant-103200863.html

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★ The Diplomat, 2024-5-1 : Taiwan's human rights priorities after the 2024 elections - especially on migrant workers' rights and refugee law thediplomat.com/2024/05/taiwans-human-rights-priorities-after-the-2024-elections/

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'Skin Colour' of Indian workers sparked controversy

★ CNN, 2024-3-5 : Taiwan wants to hire Indian workers. What's skin color or religion got to do with it? labor minister made controversial comments about the skin color, religion and diets of some Indians...Taiwan's labor ministry apologies...

★ Trak, India, 2024-3-4 : Taiwan will hire Indians with 'similiar color to Taiwanese'; Dismisses rumors of hiring 100,000 Indians. trak.in/stories/taiwan-will-hire-indians-with-similiar-color-to-taiwanese-dismisses-rumors-of-hiring-100000-indians/#google_vignette

★ Economic Times, 2024-3-4 : Taiwan's labour minister Hsu Ming-Chun triggered a controversy by stating that his country will recruit small batches of migrant workers from the Christian areas of India's northeast where looks and dietary habits are similar to those in Taiwan. Singapore, also hosts Indian workers, in both blue-collar and white-collar segments, has never restricted its recruitment to a particular state economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/expert-view/market-leadership-stays-with-psus-stay-invested-as-the-best-is-yet-to-come-ramesh-damani/articleshow/106174564.cms

★ Economic Times, 2024-3-4 : Taiwan Foreign Ministry apologised for the remarks made by certain Taiwan government agencies which led to criticism among Taiwan's society, Indians, and other international stakeholders economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/work/will-welcome-any-indian-worker-who-meets-recruitment-conditions-regardless-of-ethnic-background-taiwan-foreign-ministry/articleshow/108213799.cms

★ The Wire, 2024-3-5 : Taiwan apologises after Labour Minister sparks row about 'Skin Colour' of Indians. Taiwan's labour minister Hsu Ming-chun's remarks that initial manpower from India would be recruited from the north-eastern states due to similarities in 'skin colour' dietary habits, and religion sparked controversy.

★ Times of India, 2024-2-16 : Taiwan and India inked a pivotal agreement on Friday to facilitate the influx of Indian migrant workers to Taiwan, marking a significant shift from Taipei's conventional reliance on Southeast Asian nations for its foreign labor force. msn.com/en-in/entertainment/news/hard-working-taiwan-agrees-to-bring-in-indians-to-ease-job-crunch/ar-BB1inOxT

★ United Daily, 2024-2-20 : The number of run-away migrant workers (foreign laborers) reached a new high - 86,000 till end of 2023, which shows the government lacking a good management policy, and has been lazy and has no intention to deal with such a hot-potato issue; Besides, Taiwan takes the policy of bringing in Indian migrant workers as a strategic or political pawn, the DPP admin. excludes mainland Chinese workers - by contrast, Japan and S. Korea used lots of them.

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★ China Times, 2024-2-19 : On average, about 17 foreign laborers escaped per day in Taiwan. There are many discussions on the net - "Those illegal migrant workers don't have fingerprints or identities on file, which may causes criminal problems", "Taiwan's safety net has big loop-holes", "a lot of illegal foreign laborers are working in restaurants and construction sites", "If the police provides bonuses for reporting, illegal workers will be caught soon" , "Everyone (except the Immigration Office ) knows where the missing foreign workers are ", "Sometimes the Immigration Office receives reports about where the illegal foreign workers are, but they usually coincidently were gone when the police came"...

msn.com/zh-tw/news/national/8-6萬失聯移工趴趴走抓不到-網見綠營推1政策驚-懂了/ar-BB1it6NP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ASTS&cvid=5b0436bc3a0d408fbbe1af596d61c3f9&ei=64

★ NDTV (India), 2023-11-16:

Racism, Disinformation Cast Shadow On India-Taiwan Cooperation

There was frenzy on social media about whether the safety of women in Taiwan would be endangered...what is often missed out is Taiwan's own crime rates. According to survey data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, one in five women in Taiwan report having been in abusive relationships. Statistics reveal that a case of abuse occurs, on average, every five minutes in Taiwan, with 322 cases reported per day. The multitude of crimes against women and children in Taiwan highlight its problems with misogyny...There is another plausible angle to the malicious propaganda ...per Chinese stereotyping, is that they are innocent victims of barbaric traditions in India. The sad reality is that many women across the globe sorely lack equal status and this manifests in crimes against women, unequal pay, workplace harassment, unfair burden of work at the workplace and so on. India, Taiwan or even China are no different. Given the record of racist attacks against Southeast Asian workers in the past in Taiwan, along with the hyping up of racism against the potential arrival of Indian workers in Taiwan, New Delhi must take adequate precautions while formalising the Memorandum of Cooperation with Taiwan. (brief)
　

pic. : ; ;

★ The Diplomat, 2023-10-3: US support could prove to be a sore point in Washington's approach to regional capitals if relations deteriorate between Taiwan and Southeast Asian nations over human rights violations - the way Taiwan treats its large population of migrant workers has far-reaching ramifications... Brokerage fees – including the costs paid to agencies by potential employees to be placed into a job – can be prohibitively high, placing many of these workers in debt. Once they arrive in Taiwan, workers might find that their work is vastly different from what they were originally told, and that they lack the freedom to switch jobs. Domestic workers, who are almost always women, are particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, ...Taiwan-caught fish was placed on a list of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor by the United States Department of Labor. thediplomat.com/2023/10/southeast-asian-migrant-workers-in-taiwan-human-rights-and-soft-power/ Yumei Lin

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★ SKY News (Australia), 2023-10-21: Taiwan has been accused of permitting modern modern-day slavery with its migrant workers...migrant workers are often mistreated in an unfair system which needs to be overhauled.

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★ Bloomberg, 2023-11-10: India plans Taiwan labor supply pact, so that Taiwan could hire as many as 100,000 Indians to work at factories, farms and hospitals。 news.yahoo.com/india-plans-taiwan-labor-supply-063803045.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall★

★ US State Government 2023 trafficking in persons report /
Taiwan authorities did not fully implement victim identification procedures, complicating some victims’ access to justice and protective care. Authorities’ insufficient staffing and inspection protocols continued to impede efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute forced labor on fishing vessels in Taiwan’s highly vulnerable Distant Water Fleet (DWF). Authorities’ lack of specific labor laws ensuring the rights of migrant domestic caregivers continued to leave thousands vulnerable to exploitation in forced labor. Many foreign workers in Taiwan earn significantly less than the minimum wage. Foreign workers who leave their contracted positions – more than 55,000 at any given time – are at particularly high risk of trafficking. Employers withheld travel and identity documents of 90 percent of all migrant domestic caregivers.
Foreign fishermen working on Taiwan-owned and -flagged and Taiwan- owned, foreign-flagged fishing vessels have experienced non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep, substandard safety equipment, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks through the continued imposition of recruitment fees and deposits. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and non-contractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs to retain their labor. These abuses are particularly prevalent in Taiwan’s DWF state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/taiwan/

★ SCMP (Hong Kong), 2023-6-7: Taiwan's labour reputation hit as Greenpeace urges downgrade over migrant-worker violations /

Greenpeace USA and other overseas advocacy groups say that migrants working for the Taiwanese fishing fleet, the world's second-largest, are pushed into "forced" labour - striking a blow to Taiwan's image... The environmental group, along with the Global Labour Justice-International Labour Rights Forum and the Seafood Working Group, said that they had also found "labour rights violations" and "human rights violations" in Taiwan. The advocacy group's statement says there are "well-documented cases of labour abuse" in the fishing industry, including child labour or "forced" labour in the processing of fish. Some people, the statement says, have had their wages withheld msn.com/en-xl/money/other/taiwan-s-labour-reputation-hit-as-greenpeace-urges-downgrade-over-migrant-worker-violations/ar-AA1cdjyk Ralph Jennings

★ Le Monde diplomatique (France), 2023-2-14: Most migrant workers to higher-income Taiwan incur substantial debt to finance their fees, which binds them to their employers’ whims and exploitation while they pay it off. Taiwan’s manpower industry pockets €450 million annually from migrant workers by broker fees alone, a recent study concluded. But they often face a range of other exploitative and sometimes illegal fees, including resignation fees, contract renewal fees and fees for changing employer in Taiwan mondediplo.com/outsidein/migrant-workers-taiwan

★ TaiwanPlus News, 2023-5-24: Taiwan recruits more migrant caregivers for aging population / Taiwan faces a shortage of caregivers to look after its growing senior population. The country now hopes to address this problem by bringing in more migrant workers. But Taiwan might not be as attractive an option for overseas laborers as it once was msn.com/en-us/news/us/taiwan-recruits-more-migrant-caregivers-for-aging-population-taiwanplus-news/vi-AA1bJ4zJ

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2023-3-20 (state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/):

Migrant fishermen reported abuses by senior crewmembers, including beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and noncontractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs. These abuses were particularly prevalent in Taiwan’s large distant-waters fishing fleet, which operated without adequate oversight. Foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract, subjecting them to possible deportation and leaving them unable to pay off debts to recruiters.Foreign workers generally faced exploitation and incurred significant debt burdens during the recruitment process due to excessive brokerage fees, guarantee deposits, and high charges for flights and accommodations. Brokerage agencies often required workers to take out loans for “training” and other fees at local branches of Taiwan banks in their home countries at high interest rates, leaving workers vulnerable to debt bondage. NGOs suggested authorities should seek further international cooperation with labor-exporting countries, particularly on oversight of transnational labor brokers.Foreign fishermen were commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions. Fishermen working on Taiwan-flagged vessels operating beyond Taiwan’s territorial waters (the distant-waters fishing fleet) were not afforded the same labor rights, wages, insurance, and pensions as those recruited to work within Taiwan’s territorial waters.

Employers are subject to civil but not criminal charges when their employees are involved in fatal accidents due to unsafe working conditions. In 2021, 18.9 percent identified violations, primarily in sectors including wholesale and retail, logistics and transportation, accommodation, and food services.

★ TaiwanPlus News, 2023-5-16: Strict Criteria For Hiring Migrant Caregivers Sparks Debate / Taiwan's aging population has led to a growing demand for migrant caregivers. But in order to qualify for one, patients must prove they can't take care of themselves through a test that measures their ability to perform daily activities.

Taiwan lacks of caregivers endangering stability of our

society

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China Times, 2023-5-17: The price of a full-day care-giver for a patient is about NT$2200 ~ 4000 per day。chinatimes.com/opinion/20230517000012-262110?chdtv

★ Axios, 2023-5-2: Beijing's ambassador to Manila, Huang Xilian accused the Philippines of "stoking the fire" rather than prioritizing the security of its 150,000 overseas workers (foreign laborers) in Taiwan (comments some interpreted as a veiled threat), because Marcos granted the U.S. access to four new bases, three of which are in the north and face Taiwan. axios.com/2023/05/02/taiwan-war-us-philippines-japan-korea-australia

★ LaborRights.org, 2022-4-7 (laborrights.org/publications/comments-concerning-ranking-taiwan-united-states-department-state-2022-trafficking):

In 2022, the SWG finds that Taiwan should be downgraded to Tier 2 due to the government’s failure to meet the minimum standards as set forth in the TVPA, particularly in the following key areas: (1) failure to systematically identify trafficking victims; (2) inherent risks of human trafficking in the current employment system for migrant workers; (3) failure to regulate recruitment agencies and practices; (4) an impractical human trafficking law that prevents prosecution; and (5) and limited and ineffective partnerships with local and international NGOs.

Due to the existence of several policies that discriminate against migrant workers and provide insufficient protection, the migrant worker population has long been considered one of the most vulnerable groups in Taiwan. Most workers in Taiwan, regardless of their nationality, are protected by the Labor Standard Act (2020). However, migrant fishers working on Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels, as well as migrant domestic workers, have been left out by this law and are given fewer legal protections. Compared with nationals, these workers are at a much higher risk of forced labor and human trafficking. Despite NGOs’ reporting and the media coverage on migrant workers being abused and exploited, the Taiwanese government has taken a relatively passive attitude towards ensuring their rights and prosecuting those involved in exploiting these workers

The government officials only consider superficial indicators of human trafficking and do not review potential trafficking in persons cases in-depth and holistically. As a result, cases of suspected forced labor or human trafficking are labeled as mere labor disputes between employers and employees...

PROSECUTION : These numbers seem impossibly low

Year/Type of trafficking	Sex trafficking	Labor exploitation
2017	108	37
2018	95	38
2019	111	32
2020	130	29
2021	80	18

★ The GreenPeace Org., 2022-9-29: Taiwan-caught fish once again on Department of Labor's (DOL) List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor,which sends a solid alarm to the Taiwanese government and the distant water fishing industry. Although Taiwan made some commitments, it's far from enough to change this current system that is seemingly designed to exploit people and our ocean. Some fisher was reportedly beaten and threatened with knives onboard a vessel, while others reported having only four hours of sleep a day on a different vessel. greenpeace.org/usa/news/taiwan-caught-fish-once-again-on-department-of-labors-dol-list-of-goods-produced-by-child-labor-or-forced-labor/

★ <China Times> , 2023-2-13: The long-term care issues in an aging society should not be ignored ... Few people would like to be a social worker... chinatimes.com/opinion/20230212002513-262101?chdtv

The yellow card from the E.U. in 2015 eventually prompted Taiwan to make some changes to its fisheries regulation.
★ However, it is far from good enough。Taiwan never really wants a change !
　

nGreenPeace, 2022-4-25: The high seas fishing industry uses cost-cutting and illegal fishing tactics, forced labor, and other human rights abuses to stay profitable. To prevent such tragedy from happening again, Taiwan must amend its related laws and regulations and conduct port inspections on both Taiwanese-owned and -flagged, as well as Taiwanese-owned and Flag Of Convenience vessels. In particular, Taiwan should ensure its laws and regulations are in line with the International Labour Organisation’s C-188 convention, set minimum working standards for all fishers, and conduct law-binding labor inspections in its ports. greenpeace.org/international/press-release/53401/nine-indicted-abusing-crew-taiwan-fishing-vessel-dawang/

nCTS News (華視) , 2022-10-2:Taiwanese fishing goods have been included in the list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor like XinJiang cotton and blood diamonds. Some fishing vessels are "convenient vessel" (registered in some Pacific island country to avoid some restrictions) which are associated with illegal boats, and not only those vessels made mistakes. The workers accused the captain of beating and electrocuting the crew members, and even an Indonesian worker died for that. Some foreign media named Taiwan's fish-catch as "sweaty seafood"; A migrant worker accuses that his boss hits their back-neck, kicks them, even throws them a sharp-point object... they sleep 3 hours per day, have no enough food to eat... youtube.com/watch?v=883RKbiz6X0
nTaiwan News, 2021-1-4: Only four fishing vessels worldwide on blacklist, all owned by Taiwanese companies; ...seafood products can be at high risk of being harvested by forced labor, which is a form of modern day slavery,”; "It shows that the Taiwanese government failed to protect the migrant fishermen working on Taiwanese distant water vessels as a result of loopholes created by the country's regulations。 the existing Labor Standards Act (勞基法) is not applicable to employment on deep-sea fishing vessels... taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4093552
nSeaFoodSource, 2020-10-1: Taiwan had largely overlooked the rights of migrant fishers - immigrant workers with an average of just 2 to 3 hours sleep. If no fish were caught, they were forced to work up to 34 hours straight. ...experienced beatings from his captain, and at times, from fellow crew members who were ordered to do so by the captain ... also witnessed the deaths of fellow migrant fishers from abusive working conditions, their bodies wrapped up and stored in the freezer or thrown into the sea.That lack of oversight, is part of why laborers still often face human rights abuses. seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/us-includes-taiwan-on-forced-labor-list-due-to-fishing-industry-abuses
　

★ justsecurity.org, Focus Taiwan, Taipei Times, etc, 2022-5-13: Invited by Taiwan's government, an international human rights experts panel conducted a five-day review from May 9-13 in Taipei of the country's implementation of two United Nations' human rights-related covenants, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
　

Taiwan’s failure thus far to incorporate the Convention on Migrant Workers or to adopt a domestic workers protection law is of additional concern given the vulnerability of these workers — many of them women who provide crucial long-term services to the elderly and disabled — to adverse, discriminatory measures related to the pandemic. Their precariousness is further underlined by their low pay, lack of union representation, and the subordination of their bargaining power to the interests of the governments of their home countries because of Taiwan’s reliance on a Philippines-style labor-export model.

Many of these workers are identifiable as observant Muslims because of their dress, and are of Southeast Asian (primarily Indonesian, Filipino, Malaysian, and Vietnamese) origin, which differentiates them from most of the population in Taiwan and could make them susceptible to forms of discrimination that are not regulated – hence the need to incorporate the convention’s terms into law. The committee also noted the need to bring migrant workers within the protections of Taiwan’s overall system of labor regulation and received multiple reports regarding limitations on migrant workers’ rights to change employment, to obtain permanent residency, and bars to the migration of family members, resulting in the induced separation of families. The committee also noted its concerns regarding widespread reports of abuses against the conditions of labor for fisheries workers. Many of these are also migrants.

★ United Daily, 2022-11-2: The number of migrant workers is reducing, which is killing long-term care families / In the past 2 years, applying for a foreign care-giver takes one year. In hospital, you can not get a care-taker, no matter legal or illegal, even offering very high price. udn.com/news/story/7339/6732218?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7339_pulldownmenu_v2 葉琇姍

★ TTV news, 2023-1-11: Humanized Care ? / According to statistics, 822 thousands of Taiwanese need Long-term care service, but the number of long-term care users is 561 thousands, which accounts for 68.34%.
Those disable (elders) can only has resident care-giver to come when he or she wakes up and goes to bed. The rest of the time, due to economic factors, he cannot hire one to take care of him. For example, the urine bag must wait for the care-giver to come.
The disable who need 24 hours service can live in institutions, but those with a disability level of 8th are only given subsidy NTD 5,000 per month, which is far from enough. Only 30% of them are willing to enter institution. By 2022, the total number residential long-term care institutions (an annual subsidy of NTD 60,000 was given to more than 40,000 people in 2021), senior citizen welfare institutions, nursing homes, and veterans homes is , in total, 1,669.
Taiwan's long-term care policies must be constantly updated to meet diverse needs. ttv.com.tw/videocity/video_play.asp?id=646517

★ The Guardian, 2022-5-9: Taiwan is now dealing with an “Omicron tsunami”. In factories, migrant workers have once again been discriminated against with unequal rule enforcement and eased restrictions (theguardian.com/world/2022/may/09/once-a-zero-covid-poster-child-taiwan-learns-to-live-with-the-virus)

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 (state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/):
nForced labor occurred primarily in sectors reliant on migrant workers, including domestic service, fishing, farming, manufacturing, meat processing, and construction. Foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract, subjecting them to possible deportation and leaving them unable to pay off debts to recruiters
nMigrant fishermen reported abuses by senior crewmembers, including beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and noncontractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs to retain their labor. These abuses were particularly prevalent in Taiwan’s large distant-waters fishing fleet, which operated without adequate oversight.
nForeign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract, subjecting them to possible deportation and leaving them unable to pay off debts to recruiters.
nForeign fishermen were commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions. NGOs reported that foreign fishing crews in the distant-waters fishing fleet generally received wages below the required minimum...
nAuthorities estimated that more than 53,000 migrant workers were concentrated in the domestic work and manufacturing sectors. NGOs reported that some migrant workers legally employed as domestic workers were in fact informally employed outside the home...◎
★ RT TV news (Russia), United Daily (Taiwan, udn.com/news/story/121707/6057053), 2022-1-24: Two Indonesian migrant laborers got penalty fine in the amount of NY$100,000 (about USD 3,300) for stepping out of their CovID-19 quarantine hotel room for about one minute. Another migrant laborer from Philippine were fined same amount USD 3,300 for leaving his quarantine hotel room for 8 seconds.

★ illegal migrant workers at large, the government sit aside
United Daily, 2022-8-5	one out of ten migrant workers became illegal workers, a loop-hole of underworld gangs or drug dealers vip.udn.com/vip/story/122367/6515571?from=udn-category
United Daily, 2022-7-31	The agents urge Taiwanese government to take lessons from Singapore and no longer assist foreign laborers in running away - many of care-givers dropped the vulnerable who need to be cared most vip.udn.com/vip/story/121942/6500874?from=vipudn_recommendation
United Daily, 2022-7-31	Taiwan police disclose that their superiors are unhappy about arresting run-away migrant workers vip.udn.com/vip/story/121942/6501037?from=vipudn_recommendation
United Daily, 2022-7-24	90% families applying for foreign care-givers have been waiting, some lucky ones will worry the care-giver is going to escape as soon as they got one. Does our government still sit aside to see these happen again and again ? vip.udn.com/vip/story/121942/6484067?from=vipudn_recommendation

★ TTV news (台視新聞"熱線追蹤") , 2022-7-16 3:42pm: Although the number of nurse-aides to home has risen, the supply could never meet the demand.

★ TTV news (台視新聞) , Taiwan, 2022-6-23 8:44am:
　

migrant workers policy comparison
Taiwan	Japan	S. Korea
monthly salary NT$ 17 thousands, after 6 years $24 thousands, 5 more years later, entitled to apply for permanent residency	salary NT$ 43 thousands, 2 days off per week	salary NT$ 36 thousands, plus welfare

media	comments
United Daily, 2021-12-07	Taiwan's labor gap must be filled by migrant workers. Most needed are always very hard-working manual jobs. The salary of care takers is lower than basic salary, unable to apply for dependent visa for families or couple, almost 24 hours stand by on call, and need to do housework as well	udn.com/news/story/6841/5943054
China Times, 2021-12-9	The declining birthrate in Asia is becoming more and more serious. Since Japan's and South Korea's openness of foreign migrant workers policy by higher wages, Taiwan is facing challenges	chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20211209000013-260410?chdtv
Yahoo, NowNews, 2021-12-31	There is a big gap between 230,000 foreign care-takers and 760,000 disabled vulnerable people. In the future, employers are even more difficult to find care-givers, wait longer time, pay more, those agents might use the opportunity to collect various fees, etc. Besides, many care-givers will transfer to factory workers for higher income.	tw.news.yahoo.com/日韓搶工-台灣移工難題有解-001245476.html
Diplomat, 2021-12-30	complaints about migrant workers being forced to stay in overcrowded dormitories with insufficient facilities and almost no private space, exposing them to physical health problems due to the confined and sometimes squalid environments. Workers also face harsh conditions on the job, often taking on undesirable 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) jobs, particularly in manufacturing and construction...forced overtime has been an enduring issue	thediplomat.com/2021/12/addressing-challenges-faced-by-taiwans-migrant-workers/
CW, 2021-11-30	a buyer market turns into a seller's market. The elderly and disabled are ignored by money-oriented foreign laborers. Some agents jack up price up to NT$ 60 thousands per month ...	cw.com.tw/article/5119096

★ United Daily, 2022-6-22: Recently, the fatality rate of the nursing home or Residential Long-term Care Institutions already reaches 2.2% which is 15 times of average rate of all ages. The care takers are insufficient, and the price was jacking up to NT$ 10 thousands per day, part of the patients or the elderly's families can not afford the high price, expert urges recruiting more sataffs ... udn.com/news/story/120940/6405663?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub120940_pulldownmenu_v2 udn.com/news/story/120940/6405687?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub120940_pulldownmenu_v2
★ China Times, 2022-7-4 (chinatimes.com/opinion/20220703002742-262101?chdtv): <長照殺人悲歌政府不能視而不見>: Experts say that Taiwanese government's "Long-term Care Policy" (LTC 2.0) (「長照2.0計畫」) allowance is far less than demand from the public。Taiwanese "disability rate" (失能率, difficulty in any activity of daily living (e.g., eating, bathing, to toilet, putting on/taking off clothes, getting in / out of bed, walking indoors, (ADL)) is 13.3%，total number of the disabled population probably has reached 700,000；and the number will be increasing day by day. Living in "nursing institution" sort of places (安養機構) costs you USD 1300 ~ 1700 per month, currently the government only offers allowance USD 2,000 per year, many elderly still can not afford it, therefore, like Japanese records, suicide and killing cases increased year by year.

Taiwan should open foreign care-takers market for more SE Asian countries or mainland China, at present we only accept migrant workers from few countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Thai. ; However, mainland Chinese care-givers suppose are in better or much better price therefore can save more elderly and vulnerable people. In 2021, Taiwan considered giving vaccination priority to younger local workers instead of those vulnerable for Taiwan's economics, some day if we don't have enough foreign laborers, will Taiwan government sent foreign workers to factories ahead of the elderly and the disability ?

★ The New York Times, 2021-6-18 (nytimes.com/2021/06/18/world/asia/taiwan-migrant-labor-covid.html): ... In Taiwan, some foreign tech workers are confined indoors to tackle an outbreak; Activists say that the measures discriminate against migrant laborers. Some workers expressed concern that the conditions in the cramped dormitories, ... at quarantine centers. In some of those facilities, activists say that workers were served spoiled food or had no running water. Migrant-labor advocates have criticized the Miaoli government for provoking further fear and stigmatization of foreign workers.

★ Financial Times (UK), 2021-6-22: Taiwan accused of locking up migrant workers / “It has now become extremely common for employers to lock their migrant workers up... ”Electronics groups including Japan’s Canon and Innolux, an affiliate of Apple supplier Foxconn, have been accused of locking up migrant workers in Taiwan as an outbreak of Covid-19 hits the country ... A survey found that 60 per cent of migrant workers are forbidden from going out in their free time, ... “Discrimination of migrant workers in Taiwan is systemic, but the pandemic has made it a lot worse,”... even warned them against chatting. No central government official has spoken up against the restrictions on foreign workers. Some employers are resorting to scare tactics (your family will not even be able to see your body, etc). ft.com/content/4269650e-7660-4b80-b294-f81b4368784c

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★ Heritage Org. heritage.org/index/ , 2021 Index of Economic Freedom

In "Labor Freedom" index, Taiwan ranks No. 91 worldwide, compared with other Asian countries - No.1 Singapore, No.4 New Zealand, No.8 Australia, 10. UAE, 14. Japan, 2.8 Mongolia, No.30 Malaysia, 47. Bangladesh, 60. Qatar, 63. China, 67. Thailand, 71. Saudi Arabia, 73. Cambodia, 74. Vietnam, 112. Korea.

★ The Guardian (UK), 2021-5-16 (theguardian.com/world/2021/may/16/lockdowns-and-panic-buying-in-taiwan-as-covid-cases-rise): ... the district of Wanhua, where a cluster of at least 100 CovID-19 cases so far has centred on hosted bars and teahouses connected to the sex work industry. Many foreign laborers from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, entered Taiwan by the name of care-taker but actually illegally worked in these porn parlors in Taipei's Wanhua district, now many have escaped to their 'boss' places in middle and southern Taiwan to avoid corona-virus test, which is a very serious situation, Taipei city-councilor 鍾小平 said, according Next TV news, Formosa TV, 2021-5-18, etc.

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★ Brookings, 2021-6-25, brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/06/25/taiwans-vitality/ : the harsh lockdowns in crowded dormitories of mostly Southeast Asian workers at some technology manufacturing companies have underscored the discrimination that has long been present in Taiwan against peoples of certain nationalities, especially when coupled with low socioeconomic status. The temporary stay granted to these workers, as well as those who work in elder care and other critical jobs, is rarely a permanent welcome.

★ Equal Times org., 2021-7-30 (equaltimes.org/taiwan-s-foreign-factory-workers?lang=en#.YQSC6i7iu70)

brief : Taiwan’s foreign factory workers face rights violations amid latest Covid outbreak. “We feel like prisoners. It’s like the company controls every aspect of our lives !" The company confined migrant workers at its Miaoli plant to their dormitories when off duty and imposed epidemiologically questionable quarantine methods. a worker at KYEC, says she was put into quarantine in early June in a room where co-workers infected with Covid-19 had stayed right before she and her other colleagues moved in. “The rooms were dirty and not properly disinfected"...when workers need help with improving their living conditions or defending their rights at work, the brokers are often absent. “It is a real system of control. Even though the government denies targeting lockdown measures towards migrant workers, it did not stop the authorities and companies that did from doing so.

★ Business Insider, 2021-5-20: Taiwan ... double standards and stigma still found their way. Notably, in late 2020, a migrant worker from the Philippines was fined 100,000 Taiwan dollars ($3,500) for breaking the mandatory 14-day quarantine for just eight seconds, whereas four visiting DJs were each fined just NT$10,000 ($350) for leaving quarantine to dine and rehearse together. businessinsider.com/taiwan-covid-19-paradise-health-politics-policy-cdc-2021-5

★ International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2021 Global State of Democracy

(idea.int/gsod/sites/default/files/2021-11/spotlight-on-taiwan-gsod2021.pdf)
SPOTLIGHT ON TAIWAN Taiwan’s human rights victories soar no higher than the abhorrent labor conditions—and a bipartisan disinterest in improving them— endemic in Taiwan’s fishing, manufacturing and caregiving sectors. Stung by recurring criticism, notably from Taiwan’s ombudsman body that the authorities continued to show scant regard for the migrant labour force...

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★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2021-3-30 : Forced labor occurred primarily in sectors reliant on migrant workers including domestic services, fishing, farming, manufacturing, meat processing, and construction. Some labor brokers charged foreign workers exorbitant recruitment fees and used debts incurred from these fees in the source country as tools of coercion to subject the workers to debt bondage. Migrant fishermen reported senior crewmembers employ coercive tactics such as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, retention of identity documents, wage deductions, and noncontractual compulsory sharing of vessel operational costs to retain their labor. These abuses were particularly prevalent in Taiwan’s large distant-waters fishing fleet, which operated without adequate oversight.

Foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract, subjecting them to possible deportation and leaving them unable to pay off their debt to recruiters. Foreign workers generally faced exploitation and incurred significant debt burdens during the recruitment process due to excessive brokerage fees, guarantee deposits, and higher charges for flights and accommodations. Brokerage agencies often required workers to take out loans for “training” and other fees at local branches of Taiwan banks in their home countries at high interest rates, leaving them vulnerable to debt bondage. NGOs suggested the authorities should seek further international cooperation with labor-sending countries, particularly on oversight of transnational labor brokers. Foreign fishermen were commonly subjected to mistreatment and poor working conditions. Domestic labor laws only apply to fishermen working on vessels operating within Taiwan’s territorial waters. Fishermen working on Taiwan-flagged vessels operating beyond Taiwan’s territorial waters (Taiwan’s distant-waters fishing fleet) were not afforded the same labor rights, wages, insurance, and pensions as those recruited to work within Taiwan’s territorial waters. For example, regulations only require a minimum monthly wage of $450 for these foreign fishermen in the distant water fleet, significantly below the domestic minimum wage. NGOs reported that foreign fishing crews in Taiwan’s distant-waters fishing fleet generally received wages below the required $450 per month because of dubious deductions for administrative fees and deposits. ... estimated 35,000 migrant workers are employed in Taiwan’s distant-waters fishing fleet. The majority of these fishermen are recruited overseas, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines. The results suggested that 24 percent of foreign fishermen suffered violent physical abuse; 92 percent experienced unlawful wage withholding; 82 percent worked overtime excessively. There were also reports fishing crew members could face hunger and dehydration and have been prevented from leaving their vessels or terminating their employment contracts.

★ National Geographic, 11-25-2020 : Wildlife crimes and human rights abuses plague Taiwanese fishing vessels ...illegal dolphin catching, shark finning, and physical and verbal abuse ... The assaults, Indonesian worker Supri says, included his being locked in a freezer when he was still wet from having taken a shower, and being beaten, sprayed in the face with a hose, and shocked with an electric stun gun. In a recent report, the EJF said that abuse of crew members—along with illegal fishing for sharks and dolphins, among other species—is common in Taiwan’s distant-water fishing fleet, one of the world’s largest with more than a thousand vessels. China and Taiwan represent nearly 60 percent of the world’s distant-water fishing vessels. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/11/taiwan-fishing-vessels-perpetuate-illegal-fishing-human-rights-abuses/

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★ Seafood Source, 3-16-2021: the U.S. Labor Department placed Taiwan on its 2020 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor... Greenpeace was one of 34 organizations which last November sent a letter to Taiwan’s parliament seeking action on forced labor it said it uncovered in the country’s distant-water fishing fleet. Greenpeace has called for all migrant fishers on Taiwanese vessels to come under the administration of the Ministry of Labor instead of the Fisheries Agency, as it claims the latter doesn't have labor expertise. seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/taiwan-fishery-agency-response-to-us-dol-blacklisting

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★ Seafood Source, 4-3-2021: Taiwan responds to NGO reports on forced labor within its fishing fleet / the Taiwan Fisheries Agency said in its statement it has “endeavored to improve the protection of the rights and benefits of the crew members through institutional guarantees.” The agency provided no additional details to SeafoodSource on the scale of these inspections, Yet the agency also stated elsewhere that its actions are limited because recruiting agents are often based in other countries that do not provide adequate oversight of the practice. However, there are still significant gaps between the well-intended legal reforms and the reality at sea,” Trent told SeafoodSource. “EJF's investigations continue to uncover allegations of bonded labor, excessive working hours, verbal threats, physical abuse, and illegal fishing. Taiwanese distant-water vessels are able to use 32 overseas ports around the world, but only eight have a designated Taiwanese official to conduct inspections. Even at these eight ports, the officials have very little training in detecting human rights abuses.”...Taiwan, insufficient efforts are being made to enforce rules through victim-centered inspections,” seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/taiwan-responds-to-ngo-reports-on-forced-labor-within-its-fishing-fleet

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pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 on US Bing by keyword "foreign laborers in Taiwan" and "international workers in Taiwan" , 2022-1-9, 2021-9-12, 2021-5-17, 9-25-2019, 5-12-2019, 2-28-2019, 11-28-2018; No.3 "foreign laborers in Taiwan"at 2022-6-16

No.1 "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Yahoo search engine , 2022-1-9, 2021-5-17, 3-26-2020, 2-11-2020

No.1 "international workers in Taiwan" on Google, 2021-7-31, 1-29-2021 ; No.3 at 2022-1-9

No.1 "international laborers in Taiwan" on US Google, 2022-1-9, 2021-7-31, 2021-6-23; top 4 at 2022-6-16; The websites group was ranked No.1 on DuckDuckGo by keyword "foreign laborers in Taiwan" , 2021-9-12, 2021-5-17

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★ US state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2020

Although Taiwan met the minimum standards, significant challenges remained unaddressed. Official stakeholders operated under disparate and often ineffective victim identification procedures, complicating some victims’ access to justice and protective care. Insufficient staffing and inspection protocols continued to impede efforts to combat forced labor on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels in the highly vulnerable Distant Water Fleet (DWF). Thousands of migrant domestic caregivers remained at higher risk of exploitation in the absence of specific legislation ensuring their labor rights

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TRAFFICKING PROFILE

As reported in the last five years, human traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and traffickers subject local men and women to forced labor and local women and children to sex trafficking. Taiwan women and children are subjected to domestic sex trafficking, including as part of an increasing trend in which traffickers induce and exploit Taiwan and foreign women’s and children’s drug addictions. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone apps, livestreaming, and other such online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement. Taiwan traffickers also exploit persons with disabilities in sex trafficking. Traffickers lure women from China and Southeast Asian countries to

Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment offers for purposes of sex trafficking. Many trafficking victims are migrant workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and, to a lesser extent, individuals from China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. Taiwan is host to more than 700,000 foreign workers, most of whom are hired in their home countries through recruitment agencies and brokers—including some from Taiwan—to perform low-skilled work as home caregivers and domestic workers, or in farming, manufacturing, meat processing, construction, and fishing. In order to pay brokers’ often exorbitantly high recruitment fees and deposits, some foreign workers incur ubstantial debts, which the brokers or employers use as tools of coercion to obtain or retain their labor. After recruitment fee and guarantee deposit repayments are garnished from their wages, many foreign workers in Taiwan earn significantly less than the minimum wage. Foreign workers who leave their contracted positions—nearly 50,000 at any given time— are at particularly high risk of trafficking because they lose their immigration status and access to formal sector employment; some of them initially flee due to abusive work conditions, including forced labor. Domestic workers and home caregivers are also especially vulnerable to exploitation, since they often live in their employers’ residences, making it difficult to monitor their working and living conditions. One NGO survey found that 90 percent of all migrant domestic caregivers have their travel and identity documents withheld by their employers as a coercive measure. Brokers in Taiwan sometimes assist employers in forcibly deporting “problematic” foreign employees should they complain, enabling brokers to fill the empty positions with new foreign workers facing continued debt-based coercion. Some traffickers use Indonesian-owned stores in Taiwan as illegal remittance channels, confining Indonesian workers and subjecting them to sex trafficking. Traffickers reportedly take advantage of Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy” visa-simplification program to lure Southeast Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking. According to NGOs, more than 200 forprofit universities in Taiwan have begun aggressively recruiting foreign students—particularly Indonesians—and subsequently placing them into exploitative labor conditions under the pretense of educational opportunities. These students are often unaware of the work component prior to arrival and reportedly experience contract switching, prohibitive working hours, and poor living conditions contrary to their original agreements. Documented and undocumented Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese fishermen working on Taiwan-owned and -flagged fishing vessels experience non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep and substandard safety equipment, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water ... full text : https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report-2020/

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★ CTS News, 1-21-2021 : US Trafficking in Persons Report (since 2015) has criticized Taiwan's long-time exploitation of foreign fishing workers. CTS: Taiwan government keeps covering those Taiwan's fishing businesses



CTS TV News special report, 1-21-2021 8:00pm ~ : US Trafficking in Persons Report (since 2015) has criticized Taiwan's long-time exploitation of foreign fishing workers, about 20,000 immigrant workers are not under protection of Taiwan's laws. pic. upper left: a foreign workers working on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing fleet for 8 years accused - he has never expected his folk died at front of him. pic. upper right: a foreign laborer's half side of body fails to move for overwork (slept only 2 hours per day for a long time) , but the Taiwanese boss did not get a Doctor for him. pic. left & right: Expert: Taiwanese government keeps covering those fishing fleet bosses and ignoring human rights.

★

★ United Daily 11-30-2020 : Foreign care-giver policy needs to be updated in that secretly transferring "care givers" to "factory workers" ， market chaos ― Taiwanese labor government seems already acknowledged tacitly human trafficking (勞動部默默同意的人口販賣)， now the most urgent thing is to independently manage care givers working for patients with serious illness https://udn.com/news/story/7339/5053501?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2張姮燕／國際勞工暨雇主和諧企進協會顧問、大學教授
★

★ United Daily 12-7-2020 : Foreign laborers' (foreign workers) dorm is like a concentration camp with inhumane environment for years. (brief) udn.com/news/story/120940/5070384?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★

★ GreenPeace, 9-16-2020: Taiwan has ignored human rights of foreign workers in total 22,550 on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing fleets for years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjxeA_fQQ5M

★
★ news: Minneapolis Star Tribune 8-20-2020: US halts imports linked to Taiwan-based fishing vessel

Accounts of abusive conditions and forced labor have prompted the U.S. to halt imports from a Taiwan-based fishing vessel that reportedly has supplied the global tuna trading company that acquired Bumble Bee Seafoods this year. https://www.startribune.com/us-blocks-imports-linked-to-taiwan-based-fishing-vessel/572173572/

◎

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-11-2020 : Foreign workers were most susceptible to forced labor, especially when serving as crew members on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. Some labor brokers charged foreign workers exorbitant recruitment fees and used debts incurred from these fees in the source country as tools of coercion to subject the workers to debt bondage. The Ministry of Labor may also permit foreign workers to transfer to new employers in cases of exploitation or abuse. foreign workers often were reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate the contract and deport them, leaving them unable to reimburse debt accrued during the recruitment process. The approximately 703,000 foreign workers, primarily from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, were vulnerable to exploitation. Foreign workers generally incurred significant debt burdens during the recruitment process due to excessive brokerage fees, guarantee deposits, and higher charges for flights and accommodations. Brokerage agencies. Abuse was common in domestic service; there were several reports of employers raping foreign domestic helpers. Mistreatment and poor working conditions for foreign fishermen remained common. Foreign fishermen recruited offshore were not entitled to the same labor rights, wages.
★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 : The approximately 600,000 foreign workers, primarily from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, were vulnerable to exploitation. Foreign workers generally faced exploitation and incurred significant debt burdens during the recruitment process due to excessive brokerage fees, guarantee deposits, and higher charges for flights and accommodations. Mistreatment and poor working conditions for foreign fishermen remained common. Foreign fishermen recruited offshore were not entitled to the same labor rights, wages, insurance, and pensions as those recruited locally. The Ministry of Labor may also permit foreign workers’ transfer to new employers in cases of exploitation or abuse. Brokerage agencies often required workers to take out loans for “training” and other fees at local branches of Taiwan banks in their home countries at high interest rates, leaving them vulnerable to debt bondage.

★

pic. left: The websites was ranked No.1 "comment Taiwan migrant workers" on US Yahoo, 2022-6-23 (Chinese version), No.2 at 2022-7-4; pic. : No.1 on ecosiaof Germany, 2022-7-4, 2022-6-23 (Chinese version)

pic. : The websites group was ranked No.1 on US Google by keyword "foreign laborers in Taiwan" (Chinese version), 2021-5-17, 2-2-2021, 1-26-2020, 1-20-2020 (images No. 1~4 )

★ US state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2019

www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-2/taiwan/

Although Taiwan met the minimum standards, separation of purview between the Ministry of Labor (MOL) and the Fisheries Agency (FA), coupled with insufficient inspection protocols, continued to impede efforts to address forced labor on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels in the highly vulnerable Distant Water Fleet (DWF). Authorities detained, investigated, and in some cases charged dozens of Taiwan individuals formally designated by a foreign government as victims of forced criminality.

As reported in the last five years, human traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and traffickers subject local men and women to forced labor and local women and children to sex trafficking. Taiwan women and children are subjected to domestic sex trafficking, including as part of an increasing trend in which traffickers induce and take advantage of Taiwan and foreign women’s and children’s drug addictions to subject them to sex trafficking. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone apps, livestreaming, and other such online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement.

Traffickers lure women from China and Southeast Asian countries to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment offers for purposes of sex trafficking. Many trafficking victims are migrant workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and to a lesser extent, individuals from China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.

Documented and undocumented Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese fishermen working on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels experience non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, and pay deductions to retain their labor.
★

pic.: Next TV news (壹新聞), 1-30-2021: a bad living environment for the laborers.
roaches are everywhere in the dorm for foreign workers from Philippines and Vietnam

★★

pic.: NEXT TV news (壹新聞), 1-30-2021: Taiwanese crowds protest Indonesian care-givers' regarding critical patients as a stepping stone, they may ask to transfer to another patient or just run away after coming Taiwan, this may harms patient's health because the next care-giver come usually after 6 months or even a year. Taiwan government has never spent efforts on arresting illegal care-givers.
The website urges (1) Taiwan should broaden source-countries to avoid Indonesia dominating the market and rising the price sometimes ( some laborers may damage your property to pressure you, secret camera may not catch them ), at present around 80% care takers are Indonesians (2) establish a resume system so that new boss can have opinions from previous bosses, therefore the gov. can kick out those bad laborers out of the country (3) Since old weak ill patients are hard to take the burden of proof, the judicial systems should work better.

pic.: NEXT TV news (壹新聞), 1-30-2021: Taiwanese crowds lift "uncivilized barbarous policy" banner to protest the Indonesian's unilateral new policy requiring Taiwan's boss to pay extra NT$40,000~70,000 (USD 1300~2300)

pic. left : NEXT TV news (壹新聞), 1-30-2021: Taiwan's demand increases, pic. right : Taiwanese are harder to afford Indonesian care-givers

★

★ Formosa TV (民視英語新聞) English News at 3-25-2019: In 2018, a total of 500 people in tour groups ran off... All workers from Southeast Asia know that in Taiwan there are no consequences for getting caught, so why not run for it? Even on social media, they openly say that Taiwan is the perfect place to run away... construction, agriculture and caretaking are the main sectors where escapees end up ... Brokerage fees are not the main cause for escaping. That's an erroneous assumption. Over half of the workers that run away are caretakers. Many workers flee in hopes of finding better-paying jobs. But after running away, many end up realizing that the promises of higher wages were all lies. They paid same wages (as working legally), but gave laborers harder work to do. illegal migrants New ! UDN 2-6-2020: illegal foreign workers might be loophole of Taiwan's CoronaVirus epidemic prevention. At Feb. 26, 2020, within 5 hours Taiwan police arrested an illegal foreign worker who took care of a CoronaVirus patient a number of days ago, but, without CoronaVirus involved, Taiwanese officials catch no illegal migrant workers, you can tell whether or not Taiwan gov. is part of crime structure?

★

★ United Daily (聯合報),12-28-2019: Foreign laborers' first concern is not the laws (法律不是外勞的第一優先考量).

★
★ a 140-meter Bridge collapse in Taiwan at Oct. 1, 2019 , all dead are foreign laborers or migrant workers (fishermen) / HK01.com, 10-5-2019

◆ New York Post, 10-3-2019 : The dead, 3 Indonesians and 3 Filipinos, were drawn to work in Taiwan vast fishing fleet where condition can be difficult ...
◆ CNN, 10-1-2019 : bridge collapse send tanker trick plummeting into boats ...

◆ UDN Taiwan, 10-6-2019: why do foreign fishermen human rights problems happened repeatedly ? two key points are (1) part of the law and decrees, measures are no good (2) not well enforce the law and decrees

◆ Economic Daily, United Daily, 7-10-2019: Taiwan gov. statistics in recent 3 years show that about one foreign laborer suffered occupational injury in every single day, one died every other day, 1065 disabled in recent 3 years.

★

pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 on US Google by keyword "international workers in Taiwan", 3-26-2020, 1-21-2020, 9-25-2019, 9-1-2019, 6-15-2019, 5-12-2019, 2-28-2019, 11-1-2018 　　 pic. : No.1 "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on US Google , 3-26-2020, 1-30-2020 　 The websites group was ranked No.1 on US Google by keyword "international laborers in Taiwan", 11-26-2020, 8-8-2020, 1-25-2020, 11-11-2019, 9-25-2019, 8-26-2019, 6-15-2019, 5-12-2019, 2-28-2019, 11-1-2018 　　 pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 on US Google by keyword "international workers in Taiwan", 11-11-2019

pic. right: The websites group was ranked top 2 on ASK by keyword "international workers in Taiwan" , 9-26-2019, 5-13-2019
	★

◎★

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 2-28-2019
50 thousands of foreign laborers run away and became illegal workers, for low salary (30%), not getting along well with their boss (27%), heavy work load, environmental problems, and high agency fees.
The number of Indonesian labor : 268576 (run away 20418), Vietnamese labor 223300(31642), Philippines 154209 (1581), Thai 60764 (1932).

pic. left: about 1/7 Vietnamese laborers, 1/12 Indonesian laborers run away and became illegal workers in Taiwan, mainly for getting illegal high pay. / Apple Daily, 2-28-2019

★ The site urges Taiwanese government should act strictly in accordance with the law (◆ run away illegal migrants ), and open the care-givers market for more countries so as to push them to compete with each other, and eliminate those ◆ foreign laborers with bad work attitude, illegal behavior, bad professional skills, etc. Certainly, get migrant workers escaped caught ! Many foreign laborers are potential criminals.

★

★ Green Peace, 5-2-2019: It remains our view that Taiwanese fisheries still have many serious problems, both environmental and social, and that the need for reform is clear and urgent.

★ Economic Daily, United Daily, 7-10-2019
According to gov. statistics in recent 3 years, about one foreign laborer suffered occupational injury in every single day, one died every other day, 1065 disabled in recent 3 years.

★ United Daily, 7-15-2019, topic
Agriculture business hired more and more illegal foreign laborers for being short of legal workers, part of about 50000 "run-away" foreign laborers worked and then moved from one place to another in search of NTD120 hourly payments.

★ Lowy Institute & <the interpreter>, 5-2-2019: The Taiwan-flagged Wen Peng...allegedly killed one Filipino and one Indonesian. Six other foreign crew members were reportedly forced to jump into the sea and were never found.

★

★ UDN(聯合報), 11-10-2019: The number of Taiwan's migrants' (foreign laborers') babies who lack "hukou", official household registration is a controversy, government's statistics is just a tip of the iceberg, some media reported the number is more than 50000.

◆

pic.: Taiwan's migrant workers hide in mountains to give birth or got abortion ...... to avoid being deported

★

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 8-30-2019, headline news : KMT presidential candidate, Han Kuo-Yu, used a sarcastic comment "chickens in " to mock or describe foreign laborers.   Taiwan has the phenomenon of discrimination against foreign laborers since before.
★ Liberty Times (自由時報), 8-30-2019, headline news : KMT presidential candidate's "phoenix out, chickens in" means "talents out, labor in".    The entry or reentry all are labor, talents leaving this country is a serious problem.
      Taiwanese society as a whole has the phenomenon of discrimination against foreign laborers, Mr. Han just mirrored Taiwanese collective social consciousness and general mentality (社會普遍心態、會集體意識基礎)。

★
★

★ United Daily, 3-5-2019, head-page news, Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 3-5-2019
Philippines college students became "slaves" in Taiwan, Taiwan's university forced 52 Philippines students to part-time work illegally, the administration gave punishment to the univ.
United Daily, 8-10-2019, Control Yuan corrects Ministry of Education for that foreign students of many universities and colleges became illegal sweat-shop workers which seriously damage the image of Taiwan.

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 3-8-2019

Taiwanese rising star politician 韓國瑜 clarified 'discriminating Philippines' controversy... ( " foreign labors became English teacher ?" "瑪麗亞怎變老師?")

★

No.1 rankings by Chinese keywords on best search engines, ~ 2019

pic. : The sites group was ranked No.1 by Chinese keyword "comment foreign labor in Taiwan"
on Google , 9-4-2019, 5-12-2019 (items above are ads)

The sites group was ranked No.1 commenting "Foreign laborers in Taiwan"
on US Bing , Yahoo Taiwan
5-12-2019, 2-28-2019, 11-28-2018 (in Chinese version) No.3 on Bing, 2022-6-16

● 2018 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( released at 4.20.2018 ) : One of principal Taiwan's human rights problems was exploitation of foreign workers, including forced labor.

● 2017 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( released at 3.13.2017 ) : One of principal Taiwan's human rights problems was exploitation of foreign workers, including foreign crewmembers on long-haul fishing vessels and household caregivers.

● 2016 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( released at 4.13.2016 ) : principal human rights problems were labor exploitation of migrant workers by fishing companies, exploitation of domestic workers by brokerage agencies, and official corruption.
● 2015 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( released at 6.26.2015 ) pointed out Taiwan's principal human rights problems includes labor exploitation of migrant workers by fishing companies.
● 2014 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( issued 2.27.2014 ) comments Taiwan still suffers from the exploitation of migrant workers and from corruption in high places.

● 2013 <international human rights review panel> visiting Taiwan urged improving rights for Taiwan's migrant workers, indigenous people, women, gay, etc.
● 2012 annual report by <Amnesty International> (London, UK) criticizes Migrant-workers rights status in Taiwan.
●<2011 USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( issued April 11, 2011 ) comments one of Taiwanese major human rights problems is : abuses of foreign/international laborers/workers,
Taiwan government's foreign laborer policy and systems exploit int'l workers' rights to resist, hence, abuses of international workers happened again and again.
★

● Foreign laborers' crimes, violence ... click !!

◎

comments by international/local media :

◎

●

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 11-15-2018, Focus (深度專題報導) : The number of "hidden rape (性侵黑數)" is huge, estimate 1 case happens per 4 days, foreign laborers endured for money sake; Taiwan government is very behind on maintaining human rights of foreign laborers in Taiwan.
★

★ United Daily News (聯合報) 8-12-2018, headlines
Run-away foreign laborers have been hiding in hospitals as care givers, illegally, and suspectedly - low-quality services (失聯移工竄入醫院違法當看護照顧品質堪虞)

★ RTI (中央廣播電台 Radio Taiwan International ) 12-26-2018,

Control Yuan at 8-9-2018 corrects Immigration Agency (gov.) for doing a bad job on investigating illegal agents and employers, and worsening run-away foreign laborers situation (行蹤不明外勞仍未呈下降趨勢；移民署對於非法雇主及非法仲介查察不力，或無法掌握確切事證).

Taiwan's exploitation

pic.: USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices:
Most salary of foreign laborers in Taiwan were
deducted by the
agent-brokers / Apple Daily ( 蘋果日報), 4-22-2018

ps: without government's or state machine's agreements, little agent-brokers dare to do this?

pic.: The US human rights report: The salary that foreign laborers in Taiwan really get in each month is
only 6.7% of official poverty gap ratio / China Times (中國時報), 3-5-2017

pic.: None to mention "illegal exploitation", "legal exploitation" alone makes foreign laborers
in Taiwan work more than one year for nothing. / Wealth (財訊)

★

★ Apple Daily (蘋果日報), 12-19-2018, special report : Taiwan was involved in transnational human trafficking (人口販運風暴)
Taiwan government failed to master the hidden crewmembers ("幽靈漁工") on long-haul fishing vessels， the dark number is at least some thousands ，Taiwanese government was questioned being failed to really guard and check the human trafficking issue ，the head of Fisheries Admin. expressed local government should do the check, but, Kaohsiung city gov. said they can not do anything about it (brief)

★

★ The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 4-20-2018

       One of principal Taiwan's human rights problems was exploitation of foreign workers, including forced labor.
       Labor laws do not cover domestic workers, leaving them vulnerable to labor exploitation. Forced labor occurred in such sectors as domestic services, fishing, farming, manufacturing, and construction. Foreign workers were most susceptible to forced labor, especially when serving as crew members on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. Some labor brokers charged foreign workers exorbitant recruitment fees and used debts incurred from these fees in the source country as tools of coercion to subject the workers to debt bondage
       Household caregivers and domestic workers are not protected under the law and are not covered by a mandated minimum wage, overtime pay, limits on the workday or workweek, minimum breaks, or vacation regulations. Brokerage agencies often require workers to take out loans for “training” and other fees at local branches of Taiwan banks in their home countries at high interest rates, leaving them vulnerable to debt bondage...... foreign workers often were unwilling to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate the contract and deport them, leaving them unable to reimburse debt accrued during the recruitment process. ●

●

★

★ The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017

One of principal Taiwan's human rights problems was exploitation of foreign workers, including foreign crewmembers on long-haul fishing vessels and household caregivers. Types of exploitation included migrant workers becoming victims of domestic violence and official corruption. Human rights groups had long protested that the law left migrant workers open to exploitation from third-party brokers.

●

★ <The China Times>, Taiwan, 9.19.2017

Taiwan's judicial system has not put enough efforts on exploitation of foreign workers on fishing vessels, therefore this kind of case happened again and again.

●

★ The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 4-13-2016

Principal human rights problems were labor exploitation of migrant workers by fishing companies, exploitation of domestic workers by brokerage agencies, and official corruption. Migrant workers, including those from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand, were vulnerable to exploitation. NGOs asserted that foreign workers often were unwilling to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate the contract and deport them, leaving them unable to reimburse debt accrued to brokers or others.

●

★ The Reporter & Indonesian 《Tempo Magazine》, 12-19-2016

Apple Daily News head-page (12-19-2016) : Shame of Taiwan, the kingdom of long-distance fishing - Taiwanese ocean-going vessels exploited 10 thousand foreign laborers every year. <The Reporter> (https://www.twreporter.org/a/far-sea-fishing-indonesia-fishermen-death) looks into the case an Indonesian imported fisherman worker was suspicious of being abused to death.

★★

★ <The United Daily>, Taiwan, 2.27.2017, http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201702270013.aspx

   Shocks ! The number of social welfare immigrant workers grows 3 times.
   Shocks !! How many immigrant workers were abused !
   The unspoken secret - In Taiwan, foreign caregivers are everywhere, people can see them taking out the trash, cleaning the garbage, accompanying the boss window-shopping, working as baby-sitter ...... but, according to the official files, there are only 2000- immigrant workers are housemaids ( home-helpers, domestic workers ), hence it's within reason to suspect that many of them are actually care-givers ? The government should look into this issue.

★★

★ <USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ( released at 6.26.2015 )

Taiwan's "principal human rights problems" includes "labor exploitation of migrant workers by fishing companies"... and it mentions foreign laborers' real wage is lower than the standard.

US report2015◎

"Regulations require intensified inspection and oversight of foreign labor brokerage companies. NGOs reported that some labor brokers and employers regularly collected high fees or loan payments from foreign workers, using debts incurred in the source country as a tool for involuntary servitude. At the end of June, 517,187 documented migrants worked in Taiwan; of these, 222,571 were from Indonesia, 100,203 from the Philippines, 59,806 from Thailand, and 134,600 from Vietnam. At the end of May, a total of 43,772 undocumented foreigners were working in Taiwan, according to National Immigration Agency statistics. NGOs asserted that foreign workers often were unwilling to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate the contract and deport them, leaving them unable to pay back debt accrued to brokers or others.

A June BBC report quoted migrant fisherman and NGOs describing exploitative conditions aboard Taiwan-owned fishing vessels. According to this report, in April a Cambodian court sentenced the manager of the Taiwan fishing company Giant Ocean and five associates to 10 years in prison and ordered them to pay compensation to 150 victims. On August 14, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Kor Vandy affirmed the sentence and ordered the offenders to pay compensation to 180 victims.

An employer may deduct only labor insurance fees, health insurance premiums, income taxes, and meal and lodging fees from the wages of a foreign worker. Violators face fines of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000 ($1,940 to $9,700) and loss of hiring privileges. Critics, however, complained that violations continued and that the Ministry of Labor did not effectively enforce statutes and regulations intended to protect foreign laborers from unscrupulous brokers and employers.

In addition to a Ministry of Labor-operated Foreign Worker Direct-Hire Service Center that allowed local employers to rehire their foreign employees, the ministry operated a direct-hire web platform to allow local employers to hire foreign workers online without having to go through a broker. NGOs, however, asserted that complicated procedures and restrictions on use of both the Service Center and the online service prevented widespread implementation, and they advocated lifting restrictions on transfers between employers. The maximum time foreign workers were allowed to stay in Taiwan was 12 years.

The service center also permitted the direct rehiring of foreign workers engaged in manufacturing, fisheries, construction, and other industries."

◎
★ <Heritage Foundation> & <WallStreet Journal>, 02-02- 2016 （2016 Index of Economic Freedom）

The score of Labor Freedom (53.8) is down in this year's report, The rigidity of the labor market and lingering corruption continue to hold back overall economic freedom...

★ <The Liberty Times>, Taiwan, 4.16.2015

Taipei city council (4.15.2015), a councilor/alderman(歐陽龍) : "Using foreign laborers in improper or illegal way has already been a reality in our society... everywhere in Taiwan".

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★ <The United Daily >, Taiwan, 12.14.2015
about 1000 foreign laborer demonstrators in a parade demanded for no harms/injuries/wounded by each other and no exploitation of both sides ― patients (the disabilities) and laborers. Some laborers can't have one day off even they're wounded. (brief)
<The China Times>, 12.14.2015 A Vietnamese laborer has not had one day off for 12 years.

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★ <United Daily News>, Taiwan, 1.12.2015
editorial column "the poison of hatred and revenge"
... During this global counterterrorism moment, we urge Taiwanese should not maliciously treat Islam people particularly Indonesian foreign laborers ...

◎

★ <USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2013> ( issued 2.27.2014 )

Foreign household caregivers and domestic workers in Taiwan are unable to enjoy the same rights enjoyed by their Taiwanese counterparts, including a minimum wage and/or overtime pay, limits on workdays and/or workweeks, break entitlements, as well as vacations.

◎

★ CNA, Taiwan, 11-23-2014

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla announced Friday a plan to freeze female labor exports in five years to protect Indonesian women.

... because ... many Indonesian women are forced to travel overseas to seek better prospects, but many end up victims of mental or physical abuse. (ps)

◎

★ March 1, 2013 <international human rights review panel> visiting Taiwan.
The members of the review panel includes Philip Alston, law professor at New York University; Eibe Riedel, former member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Jerome Cohen, law professor at New York University; and Nisuke Ando, professor emeritus at Kyoto University.

The review panel urged improving rights for Taiwan's migrant workers, indigenous people, women, gay and transgender people, and people with disabilities.

◎

★ TOP TV , Taiwan (高點電視), Oct. 13/14, 2012

A TV informal discussion meeting/a symposium/a forum ( participants including Taipei City Council's councilor namely 林瑞圖 , government official, famous people, etc) mentioned:

1) The number of runaway(escaped) foreign workers and home-care maids in Taiwan is up to 30000~40000, Vietnamese ranked 1st, Indonesian 2nd, many workers're ripped off by high-position officials/people in power, e.g., city mayor, County Magistrate, city/county councilors, legislators( sort like senators/congressmen in the US), and so on.

2) They took Vietnamese as example, those workers usually earned only about NT 2000 (about USD65) per month in their country (so they willing to be workers overseas), but before coming to Taiwan they need to pay NT180000-240000 (about USD 5800-7800) to agencies, so they are in bad situation.

◎

★ Aug. 13, 2013, <the Liberty Times>, <the China Times>, <華視>, <Youtube>, etc
Taiwan's legislators questioned that Taiwanese government together with Philippines government help the agency to exploit migrant workers ― Filipinos workers were forced to sign some unnecessary document ( promissory notes for overcharged agent-fee) so that the agency can request the court to (enforce) deduct laborer's salary, hence some workers even can't have enough food and clothing.

◎

★ 2012 <Amnesty International>, London, UK, annual report The State of the World's Human Rights 2012, May 24, 2012

Migrant workers were unable to freely change employer. Domestic migrant workers and care-givers were often forced to work without adequate rest. The media exposed abuse and exploitation of migrant workers by government officials and celebrities.

◎

This page ranking No.1 on English google by the keyword "international workers in Taiwan",
test at 1-7-2015, 10-28-2015, Dec. 3, 2014
also ranking No. 1 on google by keyword "international laborers in Taiwan", test at 10-29-2015
　

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台灣的外勞foreign laborer in Taiwan
No.1 on English Google by keyword "Taiwan foreign laborer" at July 7, 2014, 9-1-2017
No.1 on yahoo by keyword "foreign laborers in Taiwan", 10-29-2015

◎
　

No.1 on Yahoo by keyword "Taiwan foreign laborer" at July 7, 2014

◎

No.1 on Yahoo by keyword "international workers in Taiwan"
at Jan. 7, 2015, Dec. 3, 2014, July 31, 2013
　

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★ 2011 human rights report <USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> USA , issued April 8, 2011

There were still problems with corruption, violence and discrimination against women and children, as well as human trafficking, abuses of foreign workers.

◎

★ <Amnesty International>, London, UK, annual report The State of the World's Human Rights 2011, May 13, 2011

Taiwan was criticized over issues to do with the death penalty, freedom of expression, justice and migrants' rights (It also voiced concerns over the slow progress to enact a judges' act to address corruption scandals involving high court judges and over the working conditions of migrant workers.).

◎

★ <the China Times> editorial 2013.03.08

It's human rights issue for Taiwanese old people & children having better home-care by foreign maids, but It's still too difficult for them (particularly Taiwanese old people) legally apply for a foreign maid to take care of them, Taiwan's government should modify the law concerning this issue...

◎

★ <Liberty Times> Taiwan, Sept. 17, 2012

Many foreign workers and group from Indonesia, Philippines protest for a red line set up in central hall, Taipei main station, they think it's a discrimination against them for stopping their gathering in such a convenient location. A researcher said the protest also tried to highlight foreign workers' long vacation, leisure issues, etc.
◎

★ <Taipei Times> Taiwan, Dec. 10, 2010

Illegal laborer brokers set to get tougher penalties .... Council statistics show about 34000 runaway foreign workers in Taiwan ... Sept. 6 deaths of 6 runaway foreign workers, ... illegally employed ... on the No. 6 freeway.
<Taiwan Post> : ...the government believes brokers must take major responsibility for the problem of runaways ...
◎

★ <China Times> Taiwan, Oct. 2, 2010

Without being treated as human beings, 35,000 foreign workers run away. ( total number of foreign laborer/workers: 372,146, Taiwan's population : 23,000,000 or so)
Sometimes international workers earn less than NT3000 (US$ 90) per month.

◎

★ BBC website, the Straits Times (Singapore), Associated Press, AFP, ABS-CBN TV (Philippines),
India Times, and DailyMail of UK, the Jakarta Post (May 14, 2010), etc.

A Taiwanese Co. employer forced three Muslim Indonesian women to eat pork (this violates Muslim religion) over a seven-month period.

Indonesian government condemns such action ( forcing foreign-laborer/workers to consume pork) as it was against appropriate values, calling upon the Taiwanese government to pay “serious attention” to the case.

ps: <United daily News> May 13, 2010 reported a Taiwanese int'l labor union leader said that those workers accused salary problems, instead of having pork.

◎
★ <三立新聞> TV morning news， 7:45am ， 9/15/2012

'Indonesian worker accused amid tears for being abused - foreign home care workers became "Roustabout" '「Chinese caption: 看護工變打雜工、印勞泣訴遭虐」

A steak shop illegally used Indonesian worker, from 6 am early morning till 12 am late night, and the boss gave expired medicine to the foreign worker ......

◎

★ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, issued Mar 11, 2010

Human Rights Reports : Taiwan

NGOs reported that laborer brokers and employers regularly collected high fees or loan payments from foreign workers, frequently using debt as a tool for involuntary servitude, and that foreign workers were unwilling to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate the contract and forcibly deport them, leaving them unable to pay back debt accrued to brokers or others.

◎

★ WikiPedia Human trafficking in Taiwan Sept. 2010

◎ Taiwan is primarily a destination for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced laborer and sexual exploitation. It is also a source of women trafficked to Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Women and girls from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and Southeast Asian countries are trafficked to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages, deceptive employment offers, and illegal smuggling for sexual exploitation and forced laborer.

◎ Many foreign workers remain vulnerable to trafficking because legal protections, oversight by authorities and enforcement efforts are inadequate.

◎

Ranking No.1 on Yahoo by keyword "Taiwan foreign workers", tests at July 31, 2013.
　

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★ <Dept. of Education> Taiwan ROC government May 28, 2010

Human rights library

Human rights Education advisory and resources center

Taiwan government assigns those works that Taiwanese unwilling to do to foreign laborer ... total number of international laborers and "new immigrants" is nearly 700 thousands, which is more than that of aboriginal (about 440 thousands）。

Quite a lot of Taiwanese employers have abused foreign laborer for a long run ― i.e., no vacation permitted, no socialization permitted ( going out alone not allowed ...）, no home phone calls permitted ... workers almost work for nothing in the first 2 years, ..... ― they treat foreign laborer as slaves.

News stories regarding foreign laborer in main stream media almost are negative ― int'l workers run away, rob, steal ......　so as to strengthen Taiwanese prejudices and fears to foreign workers, therefore, Taiwanese people prefer to keep a safe distance with foreign laborer/workers.

In nature, there's no big difference　between Today's Taiwan and the US taking racial apartheid policy before 1960 ... （i.e., no eating on the same table, no laundry together, etc）...

As for Taiwan's government, discrimination control happened again and again ― workers need "too" many health examinations, no blood donation permitted （assume international workers are dirty, and being inferior to Taiwanese）, government acquiesced employers to exploit those workers.

All above are the tip of a big iceberg .....

(Chinese written by 王乾任)

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★ <United daily News> Taiwan, May 13, 2010

Taiwan nice to white people, but despises int'l laborer

Taiwan's laborer system led to lots of abuses of international workers.

Taiwan is very friendly to or even has brown nose (toady to, flatter) to white people, but looks down upon color people, ....... Taiwanese often feel they faced discrimination while overseas, but Taiwanese also treat in similar way to other little countries' people .....

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★ <Taiwan News> May 4, 2010 issue no. 397

Cheap laborers can save Taiwan's economy ?

The "PM" of Taiwan stated foreign laborer/workers don't have basic/min wage ― they have at most NT8000 - 9000 per month. 【written by 陳文哲】

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★ Several illegal foreign laborer/workers died in an accident ― sprawling network of scaffolding collapsed on a construction site of the national freeway in Taiwan.

◎ <Taipei Times> Oct. 3, 2010

Council statistics show that ...... the number of recorded runaway foreign workers has reached more than 90,000.

While about ...... more than 30,000 people (ps: escaped/undocumented foreign workers) still unaccounted for, official tallies show.

According to figures from the council’s Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training, ...... the 372,146 migrant workers in Taiwan at that time.

◎ <CTS> Taiwan, evening news Oct. 1, 2010 7:10pm

"Police failed to find those illegal foreign workers dying in a national freeway accident (a headline news in Taiwan), we can see how serious Taiwan's int'l laborer problem is."(English interpretation)

◎ <CTV> Taiwan, evening news Oct. 1, 2010 7:28pm

The number of runaway illegal international workers in Taiwan is around 33,000 (ps Apple Daily: 33510, China times: 35000)

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★ <TVBS> of Hong Kong in Taiwan, Oct. 7, 2010 6:55 pm evening news

Female foreign workers feel uncomfortable, for dormitory video camera near wash-room taking pictures on them (some persons pass some pictures within group).

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★ <Apple Daily News> Taiwan Oct. 20, 2009

5 Vietnamese workers (age 20+ yrs old) cried for being "slaves" in Taiwan ― working 16 hours per day, each taking care 10+ old men, being forced to do medical treatment/actions (i.e., pulls out the phlegm) , with salary only NT 2000 (about US$ 65), besides, their boss often threatened them that the employer would terminate their contracts and forcibly deport them, and locked them together with old men inside the house without freedom ....

Some foreign worker was wounded by cat paws bad-guys after a County Representative concerned this issue. ( now already a courthouse case )
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According to UN's statistics, int'l Human trafficking relates at least 4 million people, with money value US$ 7000 - 10000 million, and has grown with high speed each year.

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This page ranked No.1 in Google by Chinese keyword "Foreign workers Taiwan", test at Feb. 14, 2011 & Dec. 16, 2010

　

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★ TV news (2010-09-13 23:20) mod.cht.com.tw PTS

Int'l workers protest Taiwan police's strong law enforcements regardless of human rights

A police "wrestled & touched down" and straddled a female international workers, that is questioned as an over-reaction law enforcement.

Today about 70-80 furious international workers on protest at front of the <Chung-Cheng> police station declared that Taiwanese police discriminated and didn't treat South-eastern Asian workers as human beings, and asked police to apology in public.

They also expressed that Taiwanese police like to interrogate and examine them in the street, instead, treat white people in totally different way.

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★ <Apple Daily News> Taiwan, May 14, 2010

Is Taiwan still a civilized society ? int'l workers' residence place ― like "prison/concentration camp".

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★ KMT political Party official website, Sept 25, 2010

Who did this?！ exploit foreign workers' human rights, and don't care Taiwanese workers' survival？

A riot protest by Thailand workers in Aug.'05 shocks Taiwan by its dark sides behind foreign-laborer exploitative systems.

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★ <United daily News> Taiwan, Sept. 6, 2009

A Taiwanese high ranking official sexual assaulted a girl foreign worker in office building.

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ps: Certainly there're good and bad int'l workers, besides, part of the laborer system bad for Taiwanese needs improvements too, i.e., a very old man may live alone for a long queue (time) for a new worker ― because the previous worker escaped for certain reason not employer's fault. Taiwan's Apple Daily News (Sept. 15, 2012) reported a foreign worker went for happy shopping and left very old person ( she should take care of ) alone in the street. My personal experience ... an irresponsible foreign laborer from Indonesia!

ps: abstract from major media article & reports

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	● Foreign workers' crimes, violence on the disability ... click !
	★ For precise meanings pls. refer to Chinese language version article ...

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