Tainan city gov't, MOL censured over Kenyan human trafficking case

Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) The Control Yuan has censured the Tainan City government and Ministry of Labor (MOL) for inadequately supervising the illegal employment and mistreatment of two Kenyans trafficked into Taiwan in 2022.

In a news release Friday, the Control Yuan said that the two Kenyans -- who were officially employed as "arts and performing arts" workers -- ended up doing farm work and cleaning jobs for the company that hired them.

Now working illegally, the two Kenyans had their identification documents taken from them by their employer and were also not paid in full, the release added.

After the two Kenyans phoned a hotline for help in 2023, the Tainan city government's Labor Affairs Bureau responded by calling the workers' employers to inform them of the complaint, the release said.

Although an official investigation was eventually started, the Kenyans were only interviewed while their employers -- who the bureau allowed to act as "interpreters" -- were in the room, the release said.

The bureau later closed the case on the grounds that "the workers did not protest," according to the release.

The two workers were subsequently identified as victims of human trafficking by the National Immigration Agency due to the treatment they received.

Control Yuan members Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) and Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) criticized the city government for misinterpreting related regulations and inadequate investigations, avoiding their responsibility as a supervisory body.

Meanwhile, the Control Yuan censured the MOL for not properly scrutinizing the two Kenyans' employment contracts, among other issues.

According to the Control Yuan, the company acting as an agent between the two parties was not registered as an employment service agency, making its recruitment of the two Kenyan workers "a clear breach of the Employment Service Act."

The ministry was also unaware that the company did not provide labor insurance and labor occupational accident insurance until the Control Yuan investigated the case, showing gaps in its management.

Currently, the monthly wage threshold for foreign professionals to work in Taiwan is over NT$47,971 (US$1464.04). However, no such limits exist for "arts and performing arts" professionals.

Chi and Yeh said the MOL should inspect and reinforce relevant regulations, as well as integrate with the Ministry of Culture (MOC), the NIA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local governments to enhance relevant management mechanisms to protect the rights of foreign workers and avoid similar human trafficking incidents.

In response, the MOL said Friday that arts performers must have work certificates or recommendation papers from official sources and employment contracts.

However, the MOL added that as arts professionals work in diverse forms, it would consult with the MOC about amending the relevant regulations.

The MOL said a regulation on reviewing and checking questionable working permits in the profession was established in June 2024.

According to the MOL, the regulation requests local governments actively check cases with a monthly wage under NT$30,000.

The ministry also subsidizes each local government to employ 15 foreign professional interviewers to conduct reviews, the MOL said.

The MOL added that it would increase the subsidized manpower according to each local government's demands.