Civil groups yesterday called on the government to codify the UN Convention Against Torture into domestic law and set up a mechanism to prevent inhumane treatment.
The groups yesterday called a news conference at the legislature in Taipei to mark UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
In attendance were representatives from the Humanistic Education Foundation, Covenants Watch, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Innocence Project, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the Judicial Reform Foundation and Amnesty International.
Photo: CNA
Torture is internationally recognized as one of the most serious crimes that can be committed, and is condemned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Covenants Watch chair Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) said.
The government under former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) twice submitted a bill to enact the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but they failed to pass, Hsu said.
The new government and legislature must take a more active approach, first by resubmitting and then passing the bill, he said.
They must also clearly define, identify and criminalize torture, and establish mechanisms for its prevention through a Cabinet-level working group, he added.
Although Taiwan cannot formally become a signatory of UN conventions, it has codified six international human rights conventions into domestic law.
Torture imparts enormous mental and physical suffering on the victims that is hard to overcome, even if they are vindicated, Taiwan Innocence Project executive director Lo Shih-hsiang (羅士翔) said.
The government must therefore enact the convention and establish a monitoring mechanism to make sure Taiwan is torture-free, he said.
Covenants Watch chief executive officer Huang Yi-bee (黃怡碧) also called for compensation for victims.
At the news conference, victim Wu Hsi-chun (吳希君) shared her experience of a psychiatric ward.
On three separate occasions, Wu said she was admitted to hospital after being declared mentally unstable.
She said she was forced to stay in a single room without sanitary facilities for 48 consecutive hours.
The lights were on the entire time and she was force-fed medication, injuring her throat, Wu said.
All people when carrying out their jobs must preserve basic human dignity, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said, adding that no one should ever be treated as Wu had been.
She also vowed that her party would prioritize the bill in the next legislative session.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS