On July 14, 1999, more than one hundred supporters from Taiwan and Japan, together with nine Taiwanese "comfort women" survivors, personally filed suit in the Tokyo District Court seeking state compensation from the Japanese government. They demanded an official apology and NT$3 million in compensation for each survivor. The Tokyo District Court ruled against them on October 15, 2002; the Tokyo High Court rejected their appeal on February 9, 2004; and the Supreme Court of Japan made the defeat final on February 25, 2005.

Those few dates cannot capture what it meant for the grandmas to stand up and fight for their rights.

"When he saw me, he threw my suitcase outside and cursed, 'There is no shameless woman like you in the Chen family.'" - Recollection of a survivor quoted in *Song of the Reed*.

In 2022, how many survivors of gender-based violence still face disbelief, blame, and hostile questioning? Does the global reach of #MeToo make even clearer how difficult it is to speak out? As pioneers of #MeToo, what can the grandmas' struggles against discrimination and for their own rights teach us today?

For the first event in the AMA Museum in Taichung series, former legislator and attorney Yu Mei-Nu-who served as a prosecutor at the 2000 Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery-will share her experience advocating for victims' rights and legislative reform. Liu Shu-Yen, a civics teacher at Taichung Girls' Senior High School, will discuss her experience and reflections from gender education.

We cordially invite you to listen to the grandmas' stories with us.

Moderator

Lin Chih-Chung Attorney, JRF Board Member

Speaker

Yu Mei-Nu Attorney, Former Legislator

Discussant

Liu Shu-Yen Board Member of the Taiwan Association for Innocence, Civics Teacher at Taichung Girls' Senior High School

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• Time: 03/12 (Sat.) 14:00-16:30
• Agenda: 14:00-14:30 Exhibition tour; 14:30-16:30 Lecture
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Join online or in person. In-person attendance is limited to 30; people on the waitlist will receive the livestream link.

Event concluded - view the discussion record

"Presumption of innocence, resolving doubt in favor of the accused, the privilege against self-incrimination..." Criminal procedure places significant limits on state power in order to protect defendants and ensure a fair trial. Yet from a victim's perspective, those protections can feel painfully ironic when the victim is treated chiefly as one item of evidence used to prove whether the defendant committed the offense.

Victims of sexual assault, in particular, face far more than simple indifference from the justice system.

Questions about clothing, alcohol, why the victim was alone, or why the victim did not resist can become proxies for whether the justice system believes a sexual assault occurred. It was not until amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure passed in December 2019 that victim participation formally entered Taiwan's criminal trial process, allowing victims to express views on evidence, probative value, and sentencing.

But is participation in the proceeding enough? What other rights can victims assert within the justice system? For the second event in the series, Attorney Lin Chiung-Chia, who has practiced for nearly forty years and has long worked on crime-victim rights, will speak. Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation Executive Director Tu Ying-Chiu will discuss the stereotypes behind the idea of the "ideal victim."

◗Reference Materials:
◦ The Morning After I Was Raped, I Made Breakfast for My Rapist
◦ Sexual Assault in the Shadows: The Unspoken "MeToo"
◦ Social Safety Net - Caring e-Network

Moderator

Lin Tzu-Cheng Attorney, JRF Standing Executive Committee Member

Speaker

Lin Chiung-Chia Attorney, MOHW Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee Member

Discussant

Tu Ying-Chiu Executive Director, Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation

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• Time: 03/19 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person attendance is limited to 30 people; a livestream link will be sent to the waitlist.

Ended, Go to Lecture Record

Has sexual violence become more aggressive as technology advances?

In March 2020, South Korea's Nth Room case came to public attention.
In October 2021, a well-known influencer was accused of using deepfake technology to create pornographic videos depicting celebrities and political figures.
Non-consensual disclosure and distribution of intimate photos and videos likewise appear regularly in the news.

CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19 recognized as early as 1992 that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously impairs equal enjoyment of rights and freedoms.

In Taiwan, distribution of obscene material may be punished by imprisonment, but victims often care most urgently about getting intimate images removed and stopping further dissemination. At present, they may have to seek assistance from organizations such as the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation or iWIN, leaving significant gaps in legal protection.
Does that mean nothing can be done? Beyond legislative reform, what can individuals do? What guidance can CEDAW and its General Recommendations offer?

For the third AMA Museum in Taichung lecture, Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation Chairperson and NTU Professor Yeh Te-Lan will discuss "Is the Law Falling Behind? Sexual Violence in Step with Technology." Chen Hung-Chin, senior writer on Mirror Media's features desk and project lead for its in-depth deepfake reporting, will respond from the perspective of journalism.

Join us in refusing to let technological change and sexual violence advance hand in hand.

◗Reference Materials:
◦ TWRF Appeal Channels
◦ After Your Face Is Stolen / Mirror Media
◦ Deepfake Porn Case Indicted Legal Sector: Maximum Sentence of 30 Years with Concurrent Sentences / Liberty Times

Moderator

Chen Ju-Mei Attorney, JRF Standing Executive Committee Member

Discussant

Yeh Te-Lan Chairperson of the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, Professor at National Taiwan University Department and Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Chen Hung-Chin Senior Writer, Mirror Media Profile Desk

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• Time: 04/09 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person attendance is limited to 30 people; a livestream link will be sent to the waitlist.

Ended

The Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act is scheduled to take effect on June 1, 2022. Article 3, Paragraph 1 defines stalking and harassment as repeated or continuous conduct directed at a specific person, against that person's will, through people, vehicles, tools, devices, electronic communications, the internet, or other means, where the conduct is related to "sex or gender" and causes fear sufficient to affect daily life or social activities.

During the legislative process, civil-society organizations and opposition parties argued that stalking is not limited to conduct related to "sex or gender" and that public protection should not depend on that restriction. The final Act nevertheless retained the limitation, in part because of concern that a broader definition would sharply increase police caseloads.

How will police determine whether conduct is sufficiently related to sex or gender? How should victims assert their rights? Could innocent people be wrongly accused? The new law is likely to create substantial practical challenges.

For the fourth lecture, Chen Ling-Chun, a seconded section chief at the National Police Agency, will discuss implementation from the perspective of police investigation, while Attorney Lin I-Fu will respond from the perspective of judicial practice.

Join us in thinking through the challenges that follow implementation of the new law.

Moderator

Lin Shu-Chin Attorney, Taichung Bar Association Restorative Justice and Practical Research Committee Member

Speaker

Chen Ling-Chun Seconded Section Chief, National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior

Discussant

Lin I-Fu Legal Aid Foundation Staff Attorney

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• Time: 04/16 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person attendance is limited to 30 people; a livestream link will be sent to the waitlist.

Ended, Go to Lecture Record

After four lectures in the AMA Museum in Taichung series, we invite everyone to sit down and return once more to the grandmas' stories.

This time, however, we want to let the grandmas tell those stories in their own voices.

More than twenty years have passed. Of the 59 Taiwanese survivors who once stood up to fight for their rights, only one was still alive at the time of this event. The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, which accompanied the grandmas for many years, raised funds in 2015 to produce a second documentary about them: *Song of the Reed*.

The history of "comfort women" is one of Taiwan's most painful wartime memories, while the survivors' human-rights movement stands among Taiwan's bravest struggles for women's rights.

*Song of the Reed* reflects on hard-won peace through the grandmas' struggle against discrimination and their process of healing. After the screening, senior social worker Li Wan-Ching, who has long accompanied survivors of sexual violence, will lead a discussion on the lifelong trauma sexual violence can cause.

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice." -- The Bible

◗Reference Materials:
*Song of the Reed* Trailer

Moderator

Chang Hua-Che JRF Legal Specialist

Speaker

Li Wan-Ching Senior (Clinical) Social Worker, Ph.D. Candidate at National Chi Nan University Department of Counseling

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• Time: 04/20 (Wed.) 19:00-21:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  This session is for in-person participation only, limited to 30 people; excess attendees will be placed on the waitlist.

Ended

During World War II, military forces committed widespread sexual violence against women and children. The Japanese military also established a large system of "comfort women" across East Asia, subjecting women to military sexual slavery.

During the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda, sexual violence was used systematically as a weapon of war and, in some instances, as part of campaigns aimed at destroying communities.

As the Russia-Ukraine war continued in 2022, reports also emerged of sexual violence against Ukrainian women by Russian forces.

In war, women's bodies can be treated as instruments for asserting power, humiliating an enemy, rewarding soldiers, or terrorizing communities. Such violence forces us to ask where justice can be found when law and institutions fail victims.

Beginning around 1999, "comfort women" survivors from Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, China, and elsewhere brought claims in Japanese courts, only to see those cases rejected. For survivors seeking justice, law itself could appear painfully powerless.

For this event, "Women Victimized in the Flames of War-Starting from the 2000 Tokyo Tribunal," Attorney Li Ling-Wei will moderate and Attorney Liao Ying-Chih, who assisted the grandmas in their litigation against Japan, will discuss gender inequality, wartime sexual violence, and the difficulty of seeking justice through law. Dr. Hua Hsiao-Ling, an obstetrician-gynecologist with extensive forensic experience in sexual-assault cases, will respond from a medical perspective.

We invite everyone to confront history and work together to prevent these tragedies from recurring.

Moderator

Li Ling-Wei Managing Attorney, Ching Kuan Law Firm, Founding Member of the Taiwan Non-Binary Queer Wanderers Community

Speaker

Liao Ying-Chih Board Member of the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation

Discussant

Hua Hsiao-Ling Chairperson of the Taiwan Association against Violence, Full-time Attending Physician at National Taiwan University Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Full-time Professor at National Taiwan University College of Medicine Department of Forensic Medicine

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• Time: 05/21 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: YouTube Livestream, livestream link will be sent after registration

Ended, Go to Lecture Record

More than forty years have passed since the first recognized cases of HIV/AIDS.

Scientific evidence now shows that with effective treatment, people living with HIV can live ordinary daily lives and, when viral suppression is achieved, can have sex without sexually transmitting HIV. Yet stigma and discrimination remain pervasive.

Taiwan's HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act expressly requires respect for the dignity and lawful rights of people living with HIV and prohibits discrimination. At the same time, it imposes criminal liability in certain circumstances where a person who knows they are living with HIV engages in conduct legally defined as high-risk sexual behavior, even if transmission does not occur.

How is daily life different for a person living with HIV?
Does publicly disclosing one's HIV status expose a person to greater discrimination?
Why should society care about the human rights of people living with HIV?

For this AMA Museum in Taichung event, openly HIV-positive advocate Goddess Afternoon Tea and human-rights attorney Chou Yu-Hsiu will speak in dialogue.

Unfamiliarity breeds doubt, and doubt can become discrimination. We hope even people in the most marginalized or vulnerable minorities can be treated equally.

What questions or misconceptions do you have about people living with HIV? How can a person protect themselves when confronted with discrimination or hostility? We invite you to ask the questions you have been hesitant to raise.

Audience questions will be collected in advance so the speakers can respond directly.
Everyone is welcome to raise any questions!

Moderator

Chen Yen-Han Director of Gider Taiwan

Speaker

Attorney Chou Yu-Hsiu JRF Standing Executive Committee Member, President of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights

Discussant

Goddess Afternoon Tea Openly HIV-Positive Individual

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• Time: 07/02 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person attendance is limited to 30 people; a livestream link will be sent to the waitlist.

Ended, Go to Lecture Record

*Who Turned My Child into a Stranger?* is Taiwan's first documentary focused on divorced families and barriers to parent-child visitation.

Surveys by child-welfare and women's organizations suggest that, among the minor children affected by more than 50,000 divorces each year, roughly half or more may experience disputes over visitation.

The problem is longstanding. Some parents use child removal, obstruction of contact, or alienation as tools of control or litigation strategy; the other parent may turn to legal institutions seeking protection for the child and still come away without meaningful relief. The result can be the breakdown of parent-child relationships, harm to children's rights, and lasting childhood trauma-an outcome in which nearly everyone loses.

We have all heard "divorce stories." Behind some of them are adults and children whose relationships deteriorate after separation through obstruction, alienation, or other forms of conflict.

The film asks viewers to move beyond simplistic assumptions-for example, that a parent cannot see a child only because of domestic violence, or that a child who refuses contact must simply be afraid-and to consider the institutional and cultural reasons visitation can fail.

For parents who understand the emotional bond between parent and child, the documentary can be deeply unsettling. Its central argument is not that one individual is solely at fault, but that legal institutions and social culture can reinforce destructive patterns. The film may be too late to change what happened to its subjects, but it can still help us ask: who turned these children into strangers?

◗Reference Materials: "Who Turned My Child Into a Stranger?" Trailer

Moderator

Chen I-Ting Managing Attorney, Chien Li Law and Land Joint Firm

Speaker

Fern Dad Chairman of the Taiwan Association for Father's Rights

Discussant

Tudou Dad 

---

• Time: 07/09 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  This event is for in-person participation only, limited to 40 people; excess attendees will be placed on the waitlist.

Ended

The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation has long worked to prevent domestic violence and assist survivors of intimate-partner violence and children who witness violence. Years of practice showed that victim protection and counseling alone cannot stop violence, so the Foundation increasingly turned toward prevention. Beginning in 2014, its #Bystander activities brought violence-prevention work into schools and communities, seeking to change cultures that tolerate violence and build safer environments.

#FriendlyBystander is the Foundation's violence-prevention initiative based on the international concept of bystander intervention. It teaches third parties to recognize warning signs of gender-based and other violence and to intervene in ways that are appropriate, safe, and effective.

Beginning in 2017, the Foundation developed the board game *Calling the Pied Piper*. The game addresses intimate relationships, gender-based violence, sexism and stereotypes, human trafficking, bullying, and related issues and can be used with families, schools, professional groups, communities, and workplaces.

Through the game, participants can explore what a third party can realistically do when witnessing a troubling situation.

◗Reference Materials:
"Calling the Pied Piper" Gameplay Tutorial

Moderator

Hsieh Chia-Chen JRF Advocacy Specialist

Speaker

Yu Ching-Chia Nantou Convener of the Rainbow and Gender Rights Promotion Alliance

---

• Time: 07/16 (Sat.) 13:30-16:30
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  This event is for in-person participation only, limited to 30 people; excess attendees will be placed on the waitlist.

Ended

More than four months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, people had been displaced from their homes and faced severe threats to life, property, and freedom. BBC reporting also showed that the flow across the Poland-Ukraine border was changing, with increasing numbers of Ukrainians returning home even while the war continued.

What leads people to return despite the continuing danger of war?

For the final AMA Museum in Taichung lecture, Attorney Wang Pao-Ming will moderate. Chen Hung-Chin, a journalist who traveled to the Poland-Ukraine border to report on the war, will speak, and senior social worker Li Wan-Ching, whose work focuses on trauma healing and prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, will respond.

From a journalist's perspective, what forms of violence and trauma were visible in Poland? Does gender make survival in wartime even more difficult for women?
From a social-work perspective, even though people in Taiwan did not then face war directly, how should we respond to and accompany people around us who have experienced trauma or sexual and gender-based violence?

Join us in looking beyond the battlefield to the scars war leaves behind.

◗Reference Materials:
Journalist Chen Hung-Chin[Women Without Men]

Moderator

Wang Pao-Ming JRF Taichung Office Pro Bono Attorney, Managing Attorney of Ming Jui Law Firm

Speaker

Chen Hung-Chin Senior Writer, Mirror Media Profile Desk

Discussant

Li Wan-Ching Senior (Clinical) Social Worker, Ph.D. Candidate at National Chi Nan University Department of Counseling

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• Time: 08/13 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Venue: JRF Taichung Office
  Online/In-person participation available. In-person attendance is limited to 30 people; a livestream link will be sent to the waitlist.

Ended, Go to Lecture Record