Combat Human Trafficking Organizations Stem the Flow of Criminal Proceeds

• Date： 2022-08-29
• Source：Anti-Human Trafficking Section
• Hit：266

The International Workshop on Strategies for Combating Human Trafficking hosted by Ministry of the Interior beginning at Aug 23rd has closed at Aug 24th. Government officials, experts, scholars, and representatives of non-government organizations from U.S., South Korea, U.K., Australia, Belgium, Indonesia and Taiwan, shared their opinions on the emerging human trafficking trends during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of digital technology in combating human trafficking, and provided concrete preventive measures and suggestions; moreover, they engaged in in-depth discussion targeting specifically seizure and confiscation of criminal proceeds. The workshop this year also featured important figures, who have long been concerned with the issue of human trafficking, including Ms. Weng, Yen Ching and Ms. Lee, Kai Li, members of the Executive Yuan Coordination Committee on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and Professor Wang, Huang Yu, Dean of College of Law, National Taiwan University, as moderators of related topics, ensuring smooth proceeding of the workshop.

At this year’s workshop, different countries also shared some important measures of human trafficking prevention: Mr. Soung, Jea Hyen, International Affairs Division Director of South Korea’s Institution of Criminology and Justice, pointed out that, targeting digital child and youth crimes, the South Korean government had established special emergency undercover investigation procedures, so that the criminal evidences obtained through undercover investigation could be more easily accepted and recognized by the court; Belgian prosecutor Mr. Kenny Van de Perre shared that human trafficking cases were all trialed by one court of the Antwerp Court to achieve consistent case law; Associate Professor Wang, Shih Fan of Department of Law, Taipei University, also pointed out that saved expenses from labor exploitation are passive benefits in property and should be considered criminal proceeds, and the perpetrator’s overall responsible property (movable, unmovable, and other property rights) may be seized with discretion as required.

According to National Immigration Agency, criminal organizations will come up with various ways of hiding criminal proceeds; especially, for crimes like human trafficking that have cross-border characteristics, criminal proceeds are often hidden or flow to foreign countries. Traditional crime-fighting cooperation is usually established with foreign judicial or law enforcement agencies, and it is necessary to enhance cooperative agreements on confiscating financial transactions and sold or purchased properties in the future. Taiwan’s relevant agencies of justice, financial supervision, and police administration, should jointly negotiate with overseas partners to eliminate criminal organizations’ opportunities of international crimes and realize the principle of “no one should profit through crime.”

Human trafficking is not just a serious infringement of personal freedom, but a type of crime that is mentally and physically harmful to victims. The international workshop has been held in 13 consecutive years and targeted different topics for discussion every year. The suggestions made at this year’s workshop, such as prevention of digital crimes, effective methods of confiscating criminal proceeds and related laws and regulations, have all benefited participating foreign representatives in Taiwan, local public agencies, and non-government organizations.