Sexual harassment in Taiwan's armed forces

The Taipei Times has this account of the incidence of sexual harassment in the Taiwanese armed forces, as reported to the Legislative Yuan. Excerpt:

From 2016 to last year, the military handled 245 sexual harassment allegations, including 157 that were later proven, and 58 that went to trial but did not result in a conviction, the report said.

Twenty-six cases were later dropped, and four remain in the legal process, it said.

Allegations and convictions rose almost annually from 38 allegations and 24 proven cases in 2016 to 65 allegations and 41 proven cases last year, it said. . . .

Male on female harassment, which accounted for 160 cases, was by far the most prevalent in the military, followed by 11 cases of male on male harassment and one case of female on female harassment.

The perpetrator was the victim’s superior in 103 cases and of lower rank in four cases, while 99 of the incidents involved a perpetrator in a leadership position, 63 involved colleagues and 21 involved a person pursuing a relationship with another, the report showed.

The victim was a military service member of non-commissioned rank in 75 cases, enlisted rank in 51 cases, a lieutenant or captain in 12 and major or colonel in three.

Out of 241 incidents, 184 involved inappropriate touching; 33 involved sending or sharing images without consent or sending unwanted texts; 20 involved humiliating, derogatory or hostile language; and four involved recording a person without their consent.

Taiwan abruptly abolished peacetime military courts in 2013. It is unclear whether the cases reported here were handled administratively or in the civilian courts.