The Transitional Justice Commission is reportedly planning on validating and announcing 85 historical sites of injustice, as well as proposing legislative suggestions for preserving them.
After consulting experts and using the UN’s International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as reference, the commission has drafted and finished revising key points in its final report on validating historical sites of injustice, which refer to places where those in power violated human rights during the authoritarian period.
The incidents span 1945 to 1992 and are mainly places where human rights violations occurred during the 228 Incident and the White Terror era, a commission member said.
More sites might be added, as investigation and research continue, the member said.
According to anonymous sources, the Yuan Ting police station in Keelung is one of the places that might be listed as a historical site of injustice.
The commission has also asked experts to produce a map of the sites.
Basic mapping data have been completed for six places, including the Investigation Bureau’s Ankang Reception House, sources said.
The commission has also arranged guided tours led by political victims to help visitors understand the environments in which people were detained during the authoritarian period.
The commission found that the Investigation Bureau set up a quasi-secret confinement center in the Taipei Detention Center that held political prisoners during the later stages of the Martial Law era.
In terms of investigations of historical sites of injustice, the commission has joined the New Taipei City Government in completing a boundary survey of the former Ankang execution grounds.
The Ankang site is where many political prisoners were executed after the mid-1950s, the commission said, adding that those who were executed there included Tang Shou-jen (湯守仁) and those involved in the Taiyuan Incident.
It was the longest-used execution site during the time of authoritarian rule, it said.
The commission said that its final report is to recommend a principle of preservation of the plans for historical sites of injustice.
For cases whose preservation involves property rights, major public interest, the financial burden of local self-governing groups or other matters that require the principle of legal reservation, the commission is considering proposing legislative suggestions for preserving historical sites of injustice, it added.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s