President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she hopes the National Human Rights Commission, launched yesterday, would make a “unique contribution” to the international community by passing on the nation’s experience with promoting human rights.
Tsai made the remarks at a ceremony in Taipei to pass the position of Control Yuan president from Chang Po-ya (張博雅) to Chen Chu (陳菊).
Hailing the commission’s launch as a milestone in the nation’s efforts to protect human rights, Tsai said that the move is in line with the UN’s 1993 Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions and signifies that Taiwan is one step closer to its ideal of “building the nation on human rights.”
Photo: CNA
The commission’s responsibilities include investigating human rights violations, researching and reviewing human rights policies, generating reports on human rights incidents, promoting human rights and engaging in international exchanges, she said, adding that the tasks should be conducted in the spirit of the Control Yuan as watchdog, while fostering local human rights institutions and instilling in residents a sense of respect toward other human beings.
Tsai said she hopes that commission members act as the nation’s conscience, exercise their authority fairly and independently, collaborate in introducing laws on the commission’s operations, interact smoothly with other branches of government, and work sustainably to improve human rights.
Even as the Legislative Yuan is to form a constitutional amendment committee in the next session, the government would press on with the goal of protecting human rights and upholding human rights to an international standard, she said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Civic groups have petitioned for the commission since 1998, Chen said, adding that she is both apprehensious and honored to serve as commission chairwoman.
The Presidential Office’s Human Rights Commission Consultative Committee, after adapting many international covenants on human rights to the nation, on May 19 ceased operations so that it could pass on the baton to the commission, she added.
Chen thanked all who paved the way for democracy and human rights in the nation, saying that because of their efforts, Taiwan can proudly proclaim to the international community that it is an advanced nation that values human rights.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The commission is to be a voice for minority groups, comprehensively monitor human rights in Taiwan, consult on human rights, receive complaints on human rights infringements, offer human rights education, assess whether government policies protect human rights, and advise the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan on human rights legislation, she said.
Asked what human rights she hoped to bolster, Chen said that she would focus on the human rights of children, inmates and people who are mentally challenged.
Regarding her role as Control Yuan president, Chen said that she would shoulder the “historical responsibility” of transferring the branch’s functions to other agencies, while keeping the human rights commission operational even if lawmakers and the public decide to abolish the Control Yuan.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS