If President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is serious about protecting human rights in Taiwan, he should implement the 84 recommendations given by a panel of 10 international human rights experts who he invited to review the nation’s human rights record, since the government ratified the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2009.
Last week, the experts published a critical report on the nation’s compliance with the covenants and the state of its human rights. The panel recommended pushing through a set of reforms ranging from abolishing the death penalty to improving the rights of indigenous people, laborers and immigrant workers.
Two of these recommendations can be achieved overnight:
First is abolishing capital punishment. The panel said that Taiwan was one of only 20 countries that carry out state executions. Since Ma signed the international covenants in 2009, the government has executed 20 prisoners, which contravenes the spirit of the covenants. In December last year, five prisoners were executed while waiting for a response to their appeals for clemency.
Ma justifies keeping the death penalty because of public opinion. He says that the public does not want capital punishment abolished, as reflected in a poll carried out in July last year, with nearly 80 percent of respondents believing the death penalty was a deterrent for criminal activity.
However, research by experts has shown that this view is not supported by the facts, which is why many countries — including those of the EU — have abolished capital punishment.
The abolition of the death penalty in these countries took time and required the education of their citizens about the futility of the penalty as a deterrent.
Ma can demonstrate his leadership and commitment to human rights by giving a timetable for abolishing executions and taking steps to change laws that would phase out the use of the death penalty.
Second is that the government can “take appropriate action in relation to the serious health problems of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).”
There is evidence to show the serious deterioration of Chen’s physical and mental state. The most recent was provided through video clips made by Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) showing that Chen stuttered when he spoke, had difficulty walking and had the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Chen’s all-volunteer medical team released Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans showing that the former president had suffered damage to his brain that could cause mobility and speech impairments. Chen also suffered from severe depression and it was reported that he made several suicide attempts. The chief psychiatrist of the Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital, where Chen is receiving treatment, said that his only hope for recovery was convalescence in a safe, comfortable environment at home.
Chen’s medical condition has gained significant attention at home and abroad. His supporters have held demonstrations calling for him to be granted medical parole. Many people, ranging from academics to doctors and US politicians such as US Senator Lisa Murkowski and US Representative Ed Royce have called for Chen’s release.
Ma’s refusal to heed these calls has intensified the acrimony between the pan-green and pan-blue camps and Chen’s case has become a polarizing issue for the nation. If he is concerned about leaving a good legacy he should take the opportunity to show his compassion by granting Chen medical parole. If the president is serious about promoting and protecting human rights, he needs to turn his words into action.
Mei-chin Chen is a commentator based in Washington.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS