http://origin.rfaweb.org/front/article.htm...ng=10&id=132348

RIGHTS GROUP SUES E-BAY, TAIPEI CHEF OVER VIETNAMESE WOMEN
2004-04-08

A Taiwan-based women's rights group has filed a lawsuit against the U.S.-based auction Web site e-Bay and a Taipei chef who offered three Vietnamese women for sale under laws prohibiting human trafficking. Meanwhile, a Taiwan police Internet crime committee has ruled that the man engaged in matchmaking, not human trafficking, RFA's Vietnamese service reports.

"The person who put up the advertisement is a chef in Taipei," committee chairman Eric Lee told reporters, who gave the chef's name as Liu Hsin-sun. "He married a Vietnamese woman. He is happy with his marriage, so he wanted to introduce other men to the opportunity of marrying Vietnamese women."

But Lee's announcement drew strong criticism from Taiwan rights campaigners.

The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, set up to help abused women, said it had filed a suit against e-Bay and Liu in a Taipei district court, saying that the police-led investigation had got it badly wrong.

"First, the advertisement wrote 'Bring the merchandise to Taiwan only.' It clearly shows these actions had the intention of human trafficking," Foundation lawyer Shen Mei-chen told a news conference to contest Lee's claims. "Secondly, the girls in the pictures looked younger than 15, meaning they were minors," she said.

Shen said e-Bay management did not remove the advertisement right away when people found out about the auction, and the organization should bear part of the blame for the incident.

"Humans are not animals or goods," Shen said. "In compliance with Sub-article One, Article 296 of Taiwanese Law, someone involved in human trafficking can receive a minimum sentence of five years in jail, or pay a fine of five hundred thousand Taiwan dollars or more."

The police investigation found that Liu had met and fallen in love with a Vietnamese woman during a trip to the country, Lee said. Happy with his marriage, he had posted some photos of his wife's friends on e-Bay in the hope of making matches for them too. "He didn't have any intention of trading in humans," Lee concluded.

A Vietnam-based Web site reported part of the conversation between Liu and a potential 'buyer,' in which Liu asked for half the bid amount up front, and the 'buyer' asked for a certificate proving the woman's virginity. RFA was unable to verify this report independently, however.

Taiwan women's rights activist Wang Chin-fong said the episode had cast shame on Taiwan's international image. Wang called on Taiwanese men to stop taking advantage of women from under-privileged countries.

E-Bay withdrew the listing offering for auction three young Vietnamese women "for delivery in Taiwan only" on March 7, after it had been on the Web site in Chinese and English for five days.

The listing first appeared March 2 in Chinese and English and drew bids up to U.S. $5,400. "Item location: Vietnam," it said, adding: "Ships to Taiwan only." According to the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans, based in Springfield, Virginia, the listing was deleted 48 hours after the group sent a March 5 letter of complaint to E-Bay president Meg Whitman.

The trafficking of women and children from Vietnam, often to work in the sex trade in China and Cambodia, is a growing problem. Police in Vietnam estimate that 50,000 people have been sold into prostitution over the last decade.#####

50,000 people in the last few decades? What the F is this? Where is the law in this? Arrgghhh... I get so mad when I hear some of these news, especially this recent one.

Thank you for the news Jayson. I tried to avoid knowing these problems because knowing it will anger me even more and feel bad for those Vietnamese. But if I don't know it, then I won't know the bad side of Vietnam. This is such a growing problem right now, when is the world going to recognize the inhumane of such act?

#$@%@$#^@&!!!!

I feel so insulted. Vietnamese people are not commodities, not to be bought and sold. I don't know why the Vietnamese people and the government tolerates such perpetration of human dignity. What's worst, one of the girl is clearly a minor.

i blame the government over the people.. there are also Vietamese men that go 2 Vietnam n di "bia om" too... how sad [those men should die!!]

LOL - bia ôm is not so bad

It's all about the goverment

no, i mean more that just that u kno... u know ??

The government can't do everything you know. If they close one shop, another one will spring up and if you closes that, another one will rise.

the gov't is supposed to create jobs for the ppl.. in a way.. and they only let their children work in wat has to do with taking care of Vietnam, yet those ppl just spend taxpayers + bribe money. and some of the village girls don't have any skills other than the one that's taught by their relatives.. so wat u expect them to do in the world where their skills hardly bring in any income??

it's all about jobs and the goverment is responsible for jobs. YOu just can't blame all of it to the buyers, but to the goverment. If vietnamese women have job opportunities in vietnam, none of this would happen.

exactly.It's all about opportunity and women equality in work forces.

Vietnam should execute all human trafficking criminals. They should use firing squads and shoot those bastards' brains out at the spot! No question asked!

here-here!

WTF... this is crazy... selling Vietnamese women on E-bay... kinda fits the term you can find anything on E-Bay. However I'm not sure if E-Bay should be sued.

-Norm