- On 27 October, members of Taiwan’s Control Yuan, a branch of the government which serves as an independent watchdog for monitoring and investigating government agencies, launched an investigation into labour rights abuses of migrant workers in the garment sector. The official press release is available only in Chinese, and this post is based on an unofficial translation.
- The Control Yuan stated that the investigation will examine whether government authorities adequately investigated the alleged violations and effectively supervised companies’ compliance with labour laws, specifically the Labour Standards Act, Employment Services Act, and workers’ rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Control Yuan has powers to order corrective actions against government agencies for breaches.
- The investigation is based on allegations in Transparentem’s February 2025 report. Transparentem’s report identified significant forced labour risks in Taiwan’s textile sector, particularly among migrant workers including debt bondage, recruitment fees, retention of identity documents, excessive overtime, and restriction of movement.
- In Due Diligence Design’s findings in ADA, our global risk assessment database, Taiwan scores severe for forced labour within the garment and textile sector.
Taiwan watchdog launched investigation into labour rights abuses of migrant garment workers
14.11.2025
