MOFA urged to improve handling of sexual harassment cases

Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) The government watchdog Control Yuan on Thursday called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to actively tackle incidents of sexual harassment following accusations made by two Control Yuan members that MOFA had failed to manage an allegation against one of its diplomats properly.

In a press statement, Control Yuan members Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) and Lin Wen-cheng (林文程) said the Control Yuan approved an investigative report on July 18 after the pair filed allegations surrounding a male diplomat surnamed Huang (黃).

In 2023, an alleged victim, who has since left foreign service, accused Huang of sending him nude photographs and inappropriate text messages while they were both posted in Geneva from 2017-2018 in a Facebook post.

According to their investigation, the victim, identified as "A," had reported the behavior several times to one of his MOFA superintendents. No steps were subsequently taken to stop the harassment.

MOFA only began its own investigation after "A" left the foreign service and made the incident public in 2023 during the #MeToo wave that had swept Taiwan, it said.

The MOFA investigation concluded that sexual harassment had taken place, but that it was inflicted on the victim during non-working hours and outside Taiwan.

The former Sexual Harassment Prevention Act also stipulated that an individual must file a complaint within 365 days of the last incident of harassment. The accusation by "A" was filed five years later, and therefore had already passed the statute of limitations.

In the end, Huang was not punished by MOFA, it said.

The Control Yuan members accused MOFA of failing to properly handle the case, particularly given there could be more victims.

MOFA also failed to investigate the allegations despite other foreign service staff being aware of Huang's conduct for a long time, the Control Yuan report said.

The Control Yuan members called on MOFA to thoroughly review how it handles such investigations and to ensure the rights of "A" and other potential victims are better protected.

In response, MOFA said in a statement to CNA that it respects the Control Yuan report.

It pledged that it will make amendments accordingly and continue in its efforts to prevent and tackle sexual harassment in the workforce by allowing its employees to more easily report such alleged misconduct, without expanding on details.

The Control Yuan has made several accusations of negligence against MOFA over how it has handled allegations from foreign service members in the last few months.

In June, it found MOFA negligent in how it handled sexual harassment allegations against Taiwan's former representative to the Philippines, Michael Hsu (徐佩勇), during his time in Manila, from 2022 to 2023.

In July, the Control Yuan also impeached Taiwan's former representative to Thailand, Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), for sexually harassing a female subordinate.