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Hi everyone, welcome back on my channel. My name is Charlotte.
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Today, in this episode of “Taiwan in the international news”
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I want to talk about an article that was published in a Belgian newspaper called “Het Laatste Nieuws” on the 29th of May.
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I was surprised by this article, because I had no idea that a law like that existed in Taiwan.
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The title of the article (that I am going to translate from Dutch) is:
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“Taiwan abolishes law that sentences people for adultery”.
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Apparently, in Taiwan, if you are a married couple and one of the two people cheats,
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They can be prosecuted in the court of law and face up to one year in prison!!
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I had no idea… We don't have a law like that in Belgium.
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Let's go ahead and read the article.
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Taiwan abolishes law criminalizing adultery
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The highest court of justice in Taiwan has decided to abolish a law that could convict a person who cheats in a marriage to a prison sentence.
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Hsu Tzong-li, president of the judicial branch of the Taiwanese government has said in a statement that the 85-year-old law has been abolished
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because it was a serious “violation of a person's sexual autonomy” and a “serious invasion of personal privacy”.
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Previous to this decision, the ministry of Justice has conducted a research finding that 70% of the population was against the abolishment of this law.
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This number surprises me actually.
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This means that many people in Taiwan are still in favour of this law and think it's good that a person who cheats ends up in prison potentially.
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Kuan Hsiao-wei, an assistant to a professor at the University of Taipei has called this decision of the court a milestone in the history of sexual human rights in Taiwan.
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It was stated that women had a 20% higher chance of getting convicted of the charge,
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even though men were committing the cheating act more often.
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Activists stated that the law could also pressure victims of sexual assault not to file charges,
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because the adultery charges were far more easy to prove in court than sexual assault.
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I don't know what you think about this, but in my personal opinion it can only be positive that this law doesn't exist anymore.
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If you consider those women who are fearing to report rape and sexual assault out of fear that they if they fail to prove the rape,
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they might be the ones who get convicted for cheating. That is scary
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and I can understand that many women are not prepared to take that risk so they just keep quiet.
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I think that is a big problem.
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Don't get me wrong: here in Belgium we don't have this law, but it is completely socially unacceptable to cheat.
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Of course
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But we don't have the government taking care of that.
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It is something between those 2 people. It is their relationship and if something like that happens,
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If one person cheats, the other one is free to leave.
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Maybe in some cases… For example: if one person cheats and they want a divorce
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And then they are fighting for the children's custody, maybe in that case a judge can use this cheating argument against the person
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To say to the judge: “this person is not responsible, is not serious enough to take care of the children. Look at what they did.”
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It can be used against them, but it can never directly lead to a sentence when you cheat on your partner.
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It is time to read some of your comments on last week's video about the Taiwanese Human Rights Museum getting a German award.
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Willy Nieh says: “Hi, glad to see you again here, just like an old friend of mine.
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By the way, I'm not from Taiwan, but as you I care about that little island, stinky tofu is pretty good too, have a good time”
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Thank you Willy, I really like Taiwan too!
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I don't know why this small, little island at the other side of the planet caught my heart like that.
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It is always nice to see other foreigners who have such a love for Taiwan too.
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Tracy W writes: “I watch videos every morning and practice my listening. What a great video and I enjoy your smile!”
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“I really hope to see you soon in Taiwan.”
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Thank you Tracy! I'm always so happy to hear that people practice English with my videos.
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I'm trying my best to pronounce well for you.
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Wen Tou Chen wrote: “Stinky tofu :D I heard about the museum before but haven't been there yet.”
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“This video makes me feel that I should go for a sight.”
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Yes, you are right! You should go. And I should go too!
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I had the same feeling. When I was doing research about that museum, I was surprised that I had never heard about it before
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And I thought: waw, that is something to add on my list next time I go to Taiwan.
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That was it for today's video. I hope you found it as interesting as I did.
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I am curious to hear about your opinion on this matter.
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Let me know in the comments down below if you think it is a good thing (or not) that this law will be abolished.
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If you stayed until the end, you are one of the elite people
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Let's use the password:
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Owl
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Because there is one on my shirt. Can you see it?
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If you write “owl” in the comments down below, I know you watched until the end
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Thank you so much! Don't forget to “like” and “subscribe”
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I hope to see you soon in the next video. Bye bye ~