New Policies of the Government

     A new opening was made in 2000, with the election of the Democratic Progressive Party administration. In his inaugural address, President Chen Shui-bian, himself a lawyer who had defended political prisoners, announced a set of human rights policies, the first ever in the nation history, to redress Taiwan human rights isolation. These initiatives fall mainly into four areas.

(1) Institution-building

     A National Human Rights Commission, long advocated by the UN, is to be established.A revised draft bill is to be considered at the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan Parliament), this fall. The Executive Yuan (the Cabinet) has also set up an Inter-ministerial Human Rights Task Force both to implement the set of human rights policies and to launch other initiatives.

(2) Ratification of International Human Rights Instruments

     Taiwan signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1967 but failed to take action to ratify them. In April this year, the Executive Yuan formally submitted them to the Legislative Yuan for ratification. The spirit and idea behind this initiative is the Taiwan should go as far as it can to fulfil its obligations as a covenant signatory, even if, for political reasons, it falls short of depositing them at the UN.

(3) Domestication of International Human Rights Standards

     On the plane of domestic law, fundamental international human rights standards are to be formed into a domestic Bill of Rights, incorporating major rights from ICESCR, ICCPR and other major conventions. This law, to be called the Human Rights Basic Law, is currently in the process of being drafted.

(4) International Human Rights Exchange and Cooperation

     In order to lessen the impact of Taiwan?isolation from the world human rights movement, much more international exchanges are needed, particularly with NGOs. President Chen has specifically mentioned ICJ expertise as an important source of assistance for Taiwan human rights infrastructure building.

Role of the TBA:

     All of these policies and measures are largely the result of NGO campaigning and lobbying of which the TBA (most frequently in alliance with the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Judicial Reform Foundation) was very much a part. The TBA, for example was a member of the Coalition for a National Human Rights Commission, and it hosted a lecture on “nterface Between Law and Human Rights”by Professor Kofi Kumado during his visit to Taiwan in May 2001. Several TBA members are also participating as experts in the new Inter-ministerial Taskforce on Human Rights.