mobile phones, weapons, a martyr’s place in paradise, and the demonstrated serious and sustained efforts by conducting 134 “gift” of a wife upon joining the terrorist group. By forcibly trafficking investigations, including cases involving foreign recruiting and using children in combat and support roles, ISIS fishermen, and convicting 56 traffickers. Authorities identified has violated international humanitarian law and perpetrated 263 trafficking victims, provided access to shelter and other war crimes on a mass scale. Despite having signed a pledge of victim services, and enacted new regulations requiring standard commitment with an international organization in June 2014 to contracts and benefits for foreign fishermen hired overseas. demobilize all fighters younger than 18 years old, the Kurdish Although Taiwan authorities meet the minimum standards, People’s Protection Units (YPG) recruited and trained children in many cases judges sentenced traffickers to lenient penalties as young as 12 years old in 2016. An NGO reported in January not proportionate to the crimes, weakening deterrence and TAIWAN 2016 instances in which Iran forcibly recruited or coerced male undercutting efforts of police and prosecutors. Authorities Afghan refugees and migrants, including children, living in sometimes treated labor trafficking cases as labor disputes Iran to fight in Syria. In June 2016, the media reported Iran and did not convict any traffickers associated with exploiting recruited some Afghans inside Afghanistan to fight in Syria as foreign fishermen on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. well. Some foreigners, including migrants from Central Asia, are reportedly forced, coerced, or fraudulently recruited to join extremist fighters, including ISIS. The Syrian refugee population is highly vulnerable to trafficking in neighboring countries, particularly Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey. In 2015, an international organization reported a high number of child marriages of Syrian girls among refugee populations. Syrian refugee women and girls are vulnerable to forced or “temporary marriages”—for the purpose of prostitution and other forms of exploitation—and sex trafficking in refugee camps, Jordan, and cities in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TAIWAN including Sulaimaniya. In Baghdad, Basrah, and other cities in Increase efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers under southern Iraq, reports from 2015 indicated some Syrian refugee the anti-trafficking law and sentence convicted traffickers to women were forced into prostitution by a trafficking network sufficiently stringent punishments; vigorously investigate and, in hotels and brothels after agents of the network promised to where appropriate, prosecute the owners of Taiwan-owned or resettle them from the IKR; the women’s children were forced -flagged fishing vessels that allegedly commit abuse and labor to beg on the street. In Turkey and Lebanon, reports continue trafficking onboard long haul fishing vessels; improve the of illicit prostitution rings of Syrian refugee women and girls, effectiveness of anti-trafficking training and increase prosecutors’ which are administered by local men, while the Lebanese and judges’ understanding of trafficking crimes; enact legislation police issued reports in 2014 detailing the sale of Syrian refugee that would address gaps in basic labor protections for household women by local men. In Turkey, some female Syrian refugees caregivers and domestic workers; increase efforts to reduce are reportedly exploited after accepting fraudulent job offers brokers’ exploitation of foreign workers by continuing to to work in hair salons. In Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, Syrian simplify the process of direct hiring and by strengthening refugee children continue to engage in street begging, some broker evaluation and accountability systems; clearly define of which may be forced or coerced. Syrian children are also roles and responsibilities for the agencies that oversee Taiwan- observed working in Turkey’s agricultural sector and informally flagged fishing vessels; establish a systematic information- in textile workshops and the service sector where they experience sharing process to foster more robust interagency anti-trafficking long working hours, low wages, and poor working conditions; coordination; enhance cross-border efforts to identify and children in these sectors may be vulnerable to forced labor. In protect victims, and prosecute offenders; and continue efforts Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, Syrian gangs force refugee men, women, to increase public awareness of all forms of trafficking. and children to work in agriculture, where victims are forced to work under harsh conditions with little to no pay and some are subject to physical abuse. LGBTI persons among the Syrian PROSECUTION refugee population in Lebanon are reportedly vulnerable to Authorities maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. sex trafficking by Lebanese pimps. In Qatar and Kuwait, Syrian The Human Trafficking Prevention and Control Act (HTPCA) adults are reportedly subjected to forced labor as low-skilled prohibits sex and labor trafficking and prescribes penalties of workers. In 2014, an international organization reported Syrian up to seven years imprisonment; these penalties are sufficiently nationals temporarily residing in Sudan sought to travel through stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other Libya en route to Italy with the use of smugglers; these Syrians serious crimes, such as rape. However, authorities continued could be at risk of trafficking along this route. Throughout 2016, to prosecute the majority of trafficking cases under other laws displaced Syrians continued to seek illegal passage to Europe in the criminal code as well as the Children and Youth Sexual via the Mediterranean Sea through the use of smugglers; these Transaction Prevention Act (CYSTPA) (amended as the Children Syrians may be at risk of trafficking. and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, which took effect in January 2017). Authorities conducted 40 labor trafficking and 94 sex trafficking investigations in 2016 (181 in 2015). Unlike in the previous year, authorities launched trafficking investigations of cases involving foreign fishermen, with four TAIWAN: TIER 1 cases investigated involving 47 victims and 18 suspects. In Taiwan authorities fully meet the minimum standards for the total, the authorities initiated 128 prosecutions in 2016 (110 elimination of trafficking. Authorities continued to demonstrate in 2015) and obtained 56 convictions (53 in 2015). Authorities serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; initiated prosecutions against 44 suspects (30 in 2015) and therefore, Taiwan remained on Tier 1. Taiwan authorities convicted 28 traffickers (22 in 2015) under the HTPCA. Under 382 other sections of the criminal code and CYSTPA, authorities and jailed potential trafficking victims during the reporting TAIWAN initiated prosecutions against 84 suspects (80 in 2015) and period. These individuals include possible trafficking victims convicted 28 traffickers (31 in 2015). Traffickers convicted who, according to some reports, were coerced into participating under the HTPCA received lighter sentences than defendants in telecom scams targeting overseas victims. convicted under the CYSTPA and other sections of the criminal code; sentences imposed on the majority of convicted traffickers (29 of 56) were less than one year imprisonment, which are PREVENTION inadequate to serve as an effective deterrent to the commission Authorities increased efforts to prevent human trafficking. A of trafficking crimes. Authorities continued to train law cabinet-level minister-without-portfolio continued to implement enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges through various the national plan of action and oversee an interagency working workshops, seminars, and conferences. Nonetheless, authorities group. Various agencies continued to fund advertisements, and NGOs cited continued challenges in effective prosecution public service announcements, and other materials on human of labor trafficking cases due to court officials perceiving cases trafficking and held trainings for vulnerable populations, as labor disputes rather than trafficking crimes. Some police such as youth, foreign workers, and fishing sector workers. also reportedly perceived sex trafficking cases involving child Authorities continued to operate international airport service victims as easier to prosecute than labor trafficking cases counters and foreign-worker service stations around Taiwan involving adult victims. Authorities initiated investigations of to assist foreign workers and educate them on their rights. To a prosecutor who allegedly engaged in commercial sex with address exploitation associated with labor recruitment, the a minor, as well as a city councilor who allegedly exploited direct hiring service center allowed employers to hire foreign foreign women in prostitution; both investigations were still workers directly, instead of utilizing brokers who may charge ongoing at the end of the reporting period. excessive fees; however, most employers continued to deem it easier and more expedient to use brokers. Authorities fined six brokers and suspended business operations of four for charging PROTECTION excessive fees. During the reporting period, authorities removed Authorities maintained efforts to protect victims of trafficking. a policy requiring foreign workers to leave