Hopes that changes to the Judges Act (法官法) would help dismiss incompetent or abusive judges have not been met, the Judicial Reform Foundation said on Thursday.
The amended act ordered the Judicial Yuan to establish the Judicial Evaluation Committee to evaluate judges, and the Judicial Personnel Review Committee to evaluate their appointments, removals and transfers.
It also called for the Prosecutors’ Evaluation Committee and the Prosecutors’ Personnel Review Committee to enable judicial authorities or members of the public to request an evaluation of prosecutors.
However, the system has not shown results, foundation chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) said.
Members of the public filed 622 complaints in the past year requesting evaluations of judges or prosecutors, but not one was successful, Lin said.
Records showed that only two cases received hearings.
“The results are worrying for the foundation and people pushing for judicial reform,” Lin said.
The committees should provide information about what would constitute misconduct, negligence or other improper conduct by judicial personnel, he said.
Civic groups and individuals should be allowed to file joint complaints, and committee members should refrain from applying their “legal interpretations,” Lin said, adding that the Judicial Yuan should compile the complaints and their proceedings in an annual report.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS