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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Taiwan decriminalises adultery in landmark ruling

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Taiwan decriminalises adultery in landmark ruling
Taiwan decriminalises adultery in landmark ruling

Taiwan's constitutional court has decriminalised adultery in a landmark judgment aimed at upholding personal rights and privacy, scrapping a law that activists said discriminated against women.

Joe Davies reports.

Taiwan's constitutional court decriminalised adultery in a landmark judgment on Friday (May 29).

The ruling was aimed at upholding personal rights and privacy, while scrapping a law that activists said discriminated against women.

The adultery law meant those who had sex with a married person, or with a person outside marriage, could face a year in jail.

Protesters in favour of abolishing the law were pleased with the news.

Chuang Chiao-Ju is the Director of the Awakening Foundation.

"The number of women prosecuted (for adultery) is higher than (the number) of men, which is leading to an imbalance along gender lines.

At the same time, the legal process of suing for adultery often times causes even more severe cracks in family relationships.

Therefore, we think that the grand justice's decision to declare the prosecution of adultery as unconstitutional and deciding for it to lose effect immediately is a big improvement and a milestone for Taiwan's gender equality and marriage (rights)." Taiwan's scrapping of the adultery law follows South Korea in 2015 and India in 2018.

Some argued the law was essential to uphold the sanctity of marriage.

But to many it was an outdated infringement that restricted people's freedoms, and the process of enforcing it led to an invasion of privacy.

It was also rare for anyone to be jailed.

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