'No credible reports' of human rights abuses in Taiwan: U.S. report

Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Taiwan's human rights situation in 2024 saw "no significant changes" and "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses," the U.S. Department of State said Tuesday (U.S. time) in its abridged annual human rights report.

The report -- part of the department's "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2024"-- said Taiwan's authorities "enforced laws prohibiting human rights abuses and prosecuted officials who committed them."

It also stated that "there were no reports authorities or their agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year."

"The constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and authorities generally respected this right," the report said.

On labor rights, the report said "the law provided for the right of workers to form and join independent unions, conduct strikes, and bargain collectively," but that "the right to strike remained highly restricted."

It said teachers and civil servants did not have the right to strike and that strikes were allowed only in "adjustment" disputes, such as over compensation or work schedules, and only after mediation.

The report also stated that "large enterprises frequently made it difficult for employees to organize an enterprise union," using methods such as blacklisting union organizers from promotion or relocating them to other divisions, with such practices most common in the technology sector.

Taiwan's Ministry of Labor (MOL) "oversaw implementation and enforcement of labor laws in coordination with local labor affairs authorities," the report said.

It added that "most labor disputes involved wage and severance issues and were often settled through mediation or arbitration," and that "the law prohibited strikes or other acts of protest during conciliation or arbitration proceedings."

The U.S. State Department report also said that "more than 793,000 foreign workers were employed, primarily from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand."

Taiwan's government operated a Foreign Worker Direct Hire Service Center and an online platform to allow employers to hire foreign workers without using a broker, allowed abused or exploited migrant workers to change employers, and maintained a 24-hour toll-free hotline service in six languages for legal advice, protection, and abuse reporting, it said.

Foreign workers' associations told the State Department that "despite the existence of the hotline and authorities' effective response record, foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses due to fear the employer would terminate their contract," and that "workers also struggled with accessing the hotline while at sea."

The report also said that "more than 87,575 migrant workers were not in touch with their legal employers and likely remained informally employed elsewhere, not enjoying applicable labor protections."