Taiwan abuses foreign workers  ―  a serious problem!   
        The entry or reentry "international workers" are "foreign laborers", mostly

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Taiwan

                Taiwan

 abuses foreign workers for years

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★ 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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★ 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.

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★ 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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 pic. right: The websites group was ranked No.1  "foreign laborers in Taiwan"  on Yandex of Russia by keyword , 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;    pic. :  No.1 "international laborers in Taiwan" on Yandex Russia, 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
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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.   

★ 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 websites group was ranked No.1  "international workers in Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia , 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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pic. : No.2  "international laborers in Taiwan" on Bing at 2024-5-1, 2024-4-27, 2023-11-13 ; No.2  "international workers in Taiwan" on Bing at 2024-5-1, 2024-4-27, 2023-5-3, 2023-1-11 ; No.2  "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Bing at 2023-11-13, 2023-5-3;  No.1 "international workers in Taiwan" on Bing, 2023-1-28, 2022-10-3, 2022-7-4, 2022-6-23;  No.2  "foreign laborers in Taiwan" on Bing at 2023-6-16

　

★ 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/  

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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 / 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 lacks of caregivers endangering stability of our society udn.com/news/story/7339/7167354?from=udn-catebreaknews_ch2 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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★ , 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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★ , 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.
　

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★ 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

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★ 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/

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★  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.

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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)