Taiwan was ranked in the first tier for human trafficking prevention in the annual U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report for the fourth consecutive year, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today.
"This ranking shows that our nation's efforts to prevent human trafficking have received international recognition," the premier said. He thanked Minister without Portfolio Luo Ying-shay and related ministries for their hard work in this area.
Jiang made these remarks after being briefed by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on the nation's work on human trafficking prevention at today's Cabinet meeting.
Noting the report made eight suggestions to the ROC government, including strengthening investigation and prosecution of cases involving exploitation of fishing laborers as well as sexual exploitation of juveniles, the premier asked the Council of Agriculture (COA), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), MOI and other related agencies to immediately investigate these issues and deal with them appropriately. After consultation through the Executive Yuan's Coordination Conference for Prevention of Human Trafficking, the ministries should compile a report on measures taken in response to these suggestions by the end of September, he said.
"Safeguarding fundamental human rights is the governing ideology of the Ma administration as well as a major goal of the administration," Jiang stated. "Relevant ministries should continue working to prevent human trafficking in order to effectively curb any such crimes from happening in the future."
Jiang also instructed ministerial heads to strengthen communication with relevant legislative committees, though the Legislature is currently in recess.
Furthermore, citing the NIA's report, the premier attributed Taiwan's progress in human trafficking prevention not only to central and local government efforts but also to the support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international NGOs and other private groups.
"This is a crucial reason Taiwan has been ranked among the leaders in global human trafficking prevention," he said. "Such a cooperative model between the government and private sector is as important in safeguarding human rights as in other areas, like education, community renewal and infrastructure development."
The premier therefore asked different ministries to execute their policies based on this model, communicating more with NGOs dedicated to issues of their concern to understand their views on government policies. He cited the Ministry of Economic Affairs' dialogues with industrial and commercial groups and the NIA's talks with social groups on the exploitation of laborers and juvenile sex crimes as relevant examples.
"I hope this kind of model will create positive interaction between the public and private sectors and be conducive to promoting government policies," the premier said.