Taiwan opened a two-day international conference on human trafficking in Taipei, with officials from 11 countries focusing on forced labor hidden inside global supply chains.

• The main theme is labor exploitation in supply chains, plus how to spot and protect migrant workers, deep-sea fishing crews, domestic helpers, and foreign students.
• Taiwan sent 158 trafficking cases to prosecutors last year and housed 103 foreign victims across 25 shelters run with private partners.
• Officials argue success should not be judged by arrest counts, but by catching victims early and giving them legal, medical, and housing help.
• The American Institute in Taiwan called trafficking a cross-border crime trapping more than 27 million people worldwide and praised Taiwan as its closest law-enforcement partner in the Indo-Pacific.
• Taiwan has held the conference for 18 years running and has been rated in the top tier by the US State Department for 16 straight years.

Outlook: Taiwan wants to move from student to contributor on trafficking policy, and a war-game style tabletop exercise has been floated for next year's session.