US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI1434

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001434 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ASEC, TW, Human Rights/TIP 
SUBJECT:  FALSE MARRIAGES USED FOR TRAFFICKING IN TAIWAN 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Kaoshiung County Police officials are 
investigating an organized crime case involving six Cambodian 
women who were trafficked to Taiwan and forced into 
prostitution.  The women were promised jobs in a factory in 
Southern Taiwan and trafficked to Taiwan under false 
marriages.  All six have been provided protection and shelter 
by the Kaohsiung County Police and will not be charged with 
any crime.  The Taiwan Women's Rights Protection Association 
is providing counseling and support to the victims and local 
religious groups have provided additional support in the form 
of food and clothing.  Police believe the incident is part of 
an organized ring.  Authorities are developing strategies to 
impose stiffer penalties for false marriages, which are 
increasingly being used to traffick women from Southeast 
Asia.  Prosecutors told AIT/K that they are exploring how to 
charge false marriage offenders under national security laws, 
which would incur much stiffer penalties.  End summary. 
 
Women Trafficked Using False Husbands 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Kaoshiung County Criminal Investigation Chief Liu 
Yu-bin informed AIT/K that six Cambodian women promised 
factory jobs in Taiwan were actually trafficked via false 
marriages and forced into prostitution.  Liu said two of six 
Cambodian women managed to escape and turned themselves in to 
local police.  They told the police that the other four women 
were still being held and Kaohsiung County investigators 
raided a residence in Pingtung, rescuing the remaining four 
victims.  Liu said his office has made eight arrests in the 
case, including the false husbands. 
 
3. (SBU) Liu told AIT that the women were being housed at an 
undisclosed location in Kaohsiung County for their own 
protection.  The Taiwan Women's Rights Protection Association 
and a local religious group had been given access to the 
women and were providing them support and counseling. 
 
4. (SBU) Kaohsiung County Foreign Affairs Police told AIT/K 
that a total of thirty Vietnamese &spouses8 were arrested 
for prostitution in Kaohsiung County in 2004.  According to 
Kaohsiung County authorities, none of these women were 
charged with a crime and all have been treated as trafficking 
and provided care, counseling, and transportation home. 
Police estimate the cost to the county was around $1600 per 
person, as the women were quickly repatriated.  (Note: This 
is in contrast to PRC nationals, who are more difficult to 
repatriate.  End note). 
 
Light Penalties Encouraging Organized Crime 
------------------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) Chief Investigator Liu told AIT/K that the case was 
likely organized crime-related, but that he was not 
optimistic his investigation would be able to develop 
sufficient evidence to charge the arrested men under 
organized crime statutes.  Liu lamented that under current 
law, penalties for false marriages was too light to act as a 
deterrent or to induce those arrested to cooperate.  The case 
prosecutor, Lo Shiu-lang, told AIT/K that based on the 
current evidence, the sham husbands had been charged with 
fraud while the guard and pimp had been charged with 
pandering, forced prostitution, and unlawful confinement. 
According to Lo, the maximum sentence facing the "husbands8 
was three days in jail or a $35 fine.  The pimp and enforcer 
faced maximum terms of five years. 
 
6. (SBU) As prosecutor Lo explained, organized recruiting 
rings in Cambodia and Vietnam work with "husband" recruiters 
in Taiwan to traffick the women to Taiwan and then lease them 
to local brothels.  Sham marriage had become the method of 
choice for trafficking women since it was safer than 
smuggling women by boat and there was little cost for the 
husbands if they were caught.  While 95% of the cases Lo had 
investigated involved women from the PRC, the number of 
Southeast Asian women was on the rise.  Lo surmised that this 
trend was probably caused by the new personal interview 
requirement for non-Taiwanese spouses entering Taiwan. 
Language barriers made it more difficult for the immigration 
staff to trip up migrants who speak other languages than 
Chinese. 
 
Comment: Problem Likely to Grow 
------------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) While police and prosecutors appear to be handling 
these cases effectively, with sensitivity and protection 
provided to victims, they recognize that the relatively light 
penalties for engaging in false marriages make it likely 
efforts to reduce the number of such cases will continue. 
Prosecutors told AIT/K they were looking into the possibility 
of charging the &husbands8 under national security laws. 
This strategy was used previously in an alien smuggling case 
involving &loaned8 national ID cards which, like sham 
marriages, entailed very light penalties.  The potential five 
year penalty prescribed by the National Security Law quickly 
dried up the supply of ID cards.  This approach could provide 
the more effective deterrent needed. 
PAAL