Push Underway To Amend Taiwan's Anti-Stalking Law

TaiwanPlus News

Advocates for people who have experienced stalking say Taiwan's existing anti-stalking law, now three years old, leaves many people vulnerable and unable to get justice. There are now plans to strengthen the law through an amendment.

Transcript

00:00Ms. A's life is derailed.

00:09For two years, she's been followed and threatened by a co-worker whose advances she rejected.

00:14Her stalkers spread her personal information online and even broken into her house.

00:19Taiwan's anti-stalking law hasn't stopped the harassment.

00:22Despite a written warning from police and a court-issued protection order, she lives in hiding.

00:27And even here, giving pre-recorded testimony today, with her voice changed,

00:31she appears with a mask, sunglasses, and a low hat to guard her privacy.

00:44It's now exactly three years since the Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act took effect,

00:49and victims' advocates say it's helped close to 9,000 victims get help from police.

00:53But the question of how many cases like Ms. A's remain, undetected or just brushed off,

00:59is something that concerns them.

01:01One issue, from a lawyer's view, is that the law says the crime must be, quote,

01:04sexual or gender-related, conflating two issues and opening a loophole

01:09some only realizes there when they try to report Stalking behavior.

01:12But there's at least one chance to close those loopholes

01:27and offer more effective protection to stalking victims.

01:30Lawmaker Fan Yun says she's drawing up a bill to do just that.

01:34She says it will have the government rethink the need for a sexual harassment threshold

01:38so no one is left behind. And there's more.

01:41From Ms. A to lawmaker Fan Yun to the lawyer and the activists here today,

02:05the hope is the same. Making sure a three-year-old law succeeds in its original mission

02:10to get justice for people who would otherwise have their lives destroyed.

02:14Alex Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.

Category

Transcript

Recommended