ELECTION 2024/Hou, Lai agree to gender-based violence prevention demands: Civic groups

Taipei, Jan. 11 (CNA) Kuomintang presidential nominee Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) Lai Ching-te (賴清德) have agreed to the demands made by six civic groups regarding gender-based violence prevention, according to a statement by the groups released Thursday.

The statement added that Taiwan People's Party's (TPP's) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is yet to respond.

Demands included establishing a dedicated office responsible for leading the way in tackling gender-based violence and a research institution to spearhead the investigation into the issue, setting milestones and goals to be reviewed regularly, carrying out investigations into digital gender-based violence crimes, and providing support for victims of such crimes.

The statement labeled these policies "investments in preventing gender-based violence."

The civic groups lauded Hou for signing the demands and expressed hope that his campaign office would publicize its commitments on its social media pages, and that he would ensure the pledges were kept.

The statement said that although Lai had not directly signed the demands, he had responded through the DPP policy department.

However, the groups raised concerns about the DPP's proposal to establish cross-department communication facilitated by the Executive Yuan's Gender Equality Committee, because it could lack the ability to integrate and communicate with the other departments, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Ko has not only mainly kept silent on gender equality issues during his campaign but, as of Wednesday, just three days before the election, he had also failed to respond to the groups' demands, the statement said.

The groups questioned how a presidential candidate could promise to protect the public while showing indifference to gender-based violence, the statement added.

The demands were made after a coalition of 28 civic groups revealed the "disappointing" answers given by Taiwan's main political parties in a gender-equality policy questionnaire in December 2023, the statement explained.

Ahead of Taiwan electing a new president on Saturday, the civic groups called for the future president-elect and all the parties to actively work on preventing gender-based violence and to boost support given to victims, in order to ensure a safer living environment for everybody, the statement concluded.