ROC donates money to build girls shelters in Cambodia

Focus Taiwan
28th April, 2011

Taipei, (CNA) The Republic of China government has donated US$100,000 recently to help three charity organizations establish teenaged girls shelters in Cambodia, a Taiwan diplomat said Thursday.

The donation, made on April 27, was given to the Chinese Christian Herald Crusades (CCHC) , the Fullness in Christ Fellowship (FiCF), and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Cambodia eliminate human trafficking and protect affected teenaged girls.

Andrew Kao, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, said at the donation ceremony that the ROC government has spared no effort to uphold women's rights, protect human rights, and crack down on human trafficking.

Taiwan was listed as a "tier 1" country in the U.S. State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons report released in June 2010, which means Taiwan fully complies with the minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, Kao said.

In Asia, only Taiwan and South Korea were listed among the "tier 1" countries in 2010.

He said Taiwan maintains no formal diplomatic relations with Cambodia, but is willing to help it fight against human trafficking -- a problem that has constantly plagued the Southeast Asian nation.

Both Yeh Chi-ming, the CCHC founder, and Lily Chang, a New York-based executive of the Garden of Hope Foundation, offered their appreciation to the ROC government for its generosity.

Lily Lee,president of the Garden of Hope, Cambodia,said she plans to use the donation to establish a teenager girls home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. The home, to be called the Pleroma Home for Girls, will be followed by the building of other women's homes and girls schools to help victims of human trafficking. (By Deborah Kuo) enditem/ly