Deputy Director of National Immigration Agency (NIA) in Taiwan, Steven Wu, said that placing victims of human trafficking in detention centers is to protect them from criminals.
Wu made the remarks during yesterday's digital video conference on "Protection of Trafficking Victims" organized by the American Institute in Taiwan. Wu was responding to comments by Father Peter O'Neill of the Catholic Hope Worker's Center, which operates shelters for migrant workers and human trafficking victims, that the government should not keep the victims that they have identified in detention centers.

Migrant worker advocates urged the government on Tuesday to abolish the use of private brokers in recruiting foreign laborers and implement a revised system in its place.

The Hope Workers' Center, the Taiwan International Workers' Association and the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office all stressed at a press conference that the private brokerage system currently used to match migrant laborers with local employers was the main source of exploitation against the workers, and needed to be changed.

SAD PLIGHT: Foreign workers spoke of suffering at the hands of unscrupulous brokers and employers, with at least two Filipino workers allegedly dying of overwork
By Shih Hsiu-chuan STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006, Page 2
"I know that some migrant workers use the first three months of their salary to pay their brokers. Some even pay up to 20 months of their salary as broker's fee."
 

SAN JOSE – A photo documentary show and exhibition will take place at the Green Rice Gallery entitled "Humans For Sale - A Photo Documentary" on Friday, October 6th, 2006, 8pm. According to the event’s organizers, the “exhibition seeks to put a human face on a human trade.” The photographs are compiled from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.