Several civic groups yesterday called on the Control Yuan to look into dozens of cases of prolonged pretrial detention of foreigners and to reprimand government agencies for negligence of duty.
Holding various posters, including one that read: “Foreigners in Taiwan are not granted human rights as they are outside the protection of the law,” the groups urged the government watchdog to address the system that discriminates against aliens.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) said that at the Taipei detention center alone — one of four centers nationwide that hold foreign nationals — dozens of aliens have been detained for more than 120 days even though they have not received sentences exceeding three months.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Infringement of the liberty of aliens like this is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved,” TAHR secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) said.
The groups said the longstanding problem rested with the National Immigration Agency (NIA), prosecutors’ offices and courts that have procrastinated over holding trials involving detained aliens, as well as the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan, which have failed to address the human rights violations.
As an example, the groups said authorities detained two Thai migrant workers who were listed as witnesses in a human-trafficking case against employers, for expired visas, for 11 months from September last year.
“The Taiwanese government has been boasting that Taiwan has been given first-class status by the US Department of State in combating human trafficking for two consecutive years. However, is this really how a first-class country treats an alien in detention?” Tsai asked.
In a letter presented to the Control Yuan, the TAHR said that several aliens held at the Taipei detention center for between five and 14 months were detained in connection with crimes in six cases that were all summary offenses, but the Taoyuan District Court had refused to begin their trials.
“The NIA, prosecutors and the court all deserve to be censured,” Tsai said.
Extension of detention is based on Article 38 of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), which stipulates that detention shall not exceed 60 days, but if necessary, the NIA could prolong the period until the alien is deported.
“The Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan have turned a deaf ear to our requests to examine the constitutionality of the article,” Tsai said.
The government has taken the lead in infringing human rights by violating the non-discrimination principle enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that freedom of liberty, movement and a fair trial are rights enjoyed by everyone regardless of nationality, the groups said.
The government must offer compensation for illegal detention to affected aliens in accordance with the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法), they said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS