The 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) will be held between May 19 and May 24, 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the focuses of discussion of this year’s assembly is “Worldwide Violence Against Women and Girls.” At a technical committee, Taiwan will present its achievements over the past ten years on the topic of “The Global Challenge of Violence Against Women and Girls,” including its promotion of legislation for violence prevention and the protection of women and children, governmental reorganization, interdepartmental coordination and cooperation, policy analysis, and future planning, to the representatives of a number of countries. Taiwan will highlight its government’s active participation in the international community and its consistent concern for global public health issues. Taiwan is implementing the appeals and declarations of the international community with actual action, launching a new era for mental and public health. 

An investigative report from the World Health Organization indicated that at least one out of every three women globally has suffered from physical or sexual violence from intimate partners or non-intimate partners at least once. Among murdered women, 38% are murdered by their intimate partners. Among young women between the ages of 15 and 19 who have had intimate relationships, nearly 30% have suffered from violence at the hands of their intimate partners. This indicates that women and girls suffer from violent behavior and threats early in their lives. Therefore, governments around the world must face these issues and investigate and analyze statistics relating to the issues of the prevalence of violent behavior, risk factors, and outcomes as soon as possible. Monitoring, prevention, and response planning must be adopted to provide medical, psychological, social, economic, and legal support and rehabilitation services to the victims of violence. 

The 67th WHA is specifically calling on the international community to place more emphasis on the problems of violence against women and girls. The WHA urges that its member countries plan effective response policies and take concrete action against the two root causes of violence: gender inequality and women’s rights. In addition, the WHA stresses that in addition to physical injury and death, victims of violence often also suffer from mental health issues and non-communicable diseases. This makes victims of violence more likely to have emotional, behavioral, and physical health problems throughout their lives. These outcomes have a negative impact on the health of women and girls, their families, the community, and society as a whole. Governments should work with non-governmental women’s organizations and launch inter-departmental actions for combating violence and subsequent social rehabilitation. 

Taiwan places a great deal of emphasis on the problems of violence against women. It has actively implemented a variety of measures for protecting women’s rights and interests. In 1997, Taiwan promulgated and implemented the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act. In the following year, it promulgated and implemented the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, setting a new milestone for the protection of the personal safety of women and children. In 2002, Taiwan formulated the Act of Gender Equality in Employment, the Gender Equity Education Act, and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act. These regulations implemented a legal foundation for normative sexual harassment prevention and relief systems in the workplace, schools, and general sites. Taiwan has also complied with a number of relevant resolutions from the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and the international community, particularly in regard to violence against women and girls. Taiwan has formulated policies to protect women’s rights and interests. The independent Department of Gender Equality, which was set up by Taiwan’s highest administrative body, has legalized the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and quickly integrated it into the public sector’s policy planning, with regular cross-departmental meetings to express a variety of assessment indicators. 

Last year (2012), the health sector was reorganized to integrate functionally a number of departments that were originally responsible for caring for women, children, and other vulnerable groups, as well as for social welfare. The newly established Ministry of Health and Welfare not only strengthens medicine and health for women, but it also addresses their social welfare at the same time. This will facilitate the future promotion of violence prevention and the provision of necessary services for victimized women. Prevention begins at the elementary school level to reduce children’s contact with violence and promote the concepts of gender quality. This will improve and protect the economic and political status of women, reducing the unequal treatment that women may face in their studies, in the workplace, and in public facilities. Victimized women may have babies with low birth weight and experience miscarriages, depressions, and AIDS. For these women, timely and appropriate medical treatment, mental health care, counseling, social assistance, financial support, legal advice, personal protection, and other subsequent rehabilitation services are provided, allowing battered women to receive holistic care services and protection of their basic rights. 


Taiwan supports the UN’s prevention work and commitments toward battered women and girls. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is willing to play a key role to encourage and strengthen cooperative action coordinated across sectors. It has established the resource website “Taiwan Against Gender-Based Violence” (TAGV), actively plans and expands education advocacy to prevent student dating violence, collects and analyzes a variety of statistics and evidence on violence, develops prevention and service programs, promotes and protects laws and policies protecting victimized women and girls, provides a 24-hour protection hotline and reporting and consultation services, provides a free abuser care hotline service and diverse intervention and counseling plans, and strengthens the provision of professional knowledge and training for intervention staff. These measures reduce the impact of violence on public health, social security, and the economy. 

The Taiwanese government has never lessened its efforts for violence prevention, promoting gender equality and the mental health of its people, and the prevention and treatment of mental illness. In addition to the continued amendment of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, and the Act of Gender Equity in Employment to keep up with the times, a number of governmental departments invest funding into promotion and actively integrate the resources of the private sector and the government to construct a high-quality and healthy living environment that emphasizes holistic care, the protection of human rights, and health care and welfare services. Taiwan aims to improve the mental health of its people and provide continuous, comprehensive, and thorough mental health services to promote the mental health and improve the happiness of its people. By participating in this year’s WHA, Taiwan will allow the international community to understand its government’s long-term efforts and impressive results in mental health, violence prevention, and gender equality.