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Updated Thursday, July 17, 2008 0:00 am TWN, CNA



	Fake job ads allegedly placed by employers in the sex industry continue to occupy the classified pages of Taiwanese newspapers. Members of several women’s groups urged law enforcement authorities yesterday to step up their crackdown on such ads. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

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False sex-related job ads remain rampant: civic groups

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Fake job ads allegedly placed by employers in the sex industry continue to occupy the classified pages of Taiwanese newspapers, leaving teenagers vulnerable to forced prostitution, a local civic alliance devoted to child and juvenile sex trade prevention said yesterday.

The alliance urged law enforcement authorities to step up their crackdown on such ads. Members of the group include the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, the Garden of Hope Foundation, the Mennonite Good Shepherd Center and ECPAT Taiwan, the Taiwan arm of ECPAT International, which works to end child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

The results of a survey conducted by the alliance among Taiwan’s four leading Chinese-language newspapers June 27 show that there were 849 suspected fake job ads related to the sex industry published in the Liberty Times on that day, 519 in Apple Daily, 369 in the China Times and 196 in the United Daily News.

Many of the ads did not mention the positions offered, a job description or the place of work, providing only a mobile phone number as a contact, according to the alliance.

By region, a total of 283 ads were run in Taipei County, 282 in Taoyuan County, 143 in Taipei City, 115 in Taichung county and city and 111 in Kaohsiung county and city.

Lee Li-fen, secretary-general of ECPAT Taiwan, noted that the localities on this year’s top three list are the same as last year’s.

Compared with last year, the numbers of sex-related fake job ads run in the top five localities decreased, with the exception of Taoyuan County, Lee said.

According to Lee, a significantly larger number of such ads were placed in the central regions of Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua and Nantou, which could indicate a shift of sex businesses to these areas.

While the local authorities overseeing the media are obliged by the Child and Juvenile Sex Trade Prevention Act to check ads that tempt, broker or hint at prostitution, the survey results found that the authorities in Kaohsiung City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Nantou County, Hualien County and Yunlin County obviously failed in their duties because they did not refer any suspected violations to the police for investigation during the first five months of this year.

Meanwhile, the results show that there were also very few cases in which the police took the initiative to investigate suspected violations.

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