An advocacy group urged the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to relaunch a committee to investigate abuse of military service members amid soaring suicide numbers in the military.
Citing comments made by defense officials at the legislature, the Taiwan Jury Association on Monday told a news conference in Taipei that there were 17 suicides in the armed forces as of last month, more than the 16 deaths reported throughout 2022.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) once worked pro bono as counsel to the family of former army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) and contributed to creating the Executive Yuan investigative committee on military abuses, the association said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Hung died in 2013 after being subjected to punitive physical training and confinement for bringing a smartphone onto a base. Thirteen military officers were convicted of varying charges linked to his death.
Though the ongoing series of suicides suggest an outside body is needed to supervise the military, the investigative committee was abolished in 2014 after operating for one year, it said.
Taiwanese had little confidence in the military’s ability to regulate itself as the ministry had been accused of covering up suspicious deaths or possible abuse on numerous occasions, it said.
In February, the ministry proposed a bill to ensure abuse allegations are properly investigated, as well as amendments to military law, showing the officials are committed to human rights in the armed forces, the association said.
However, the ministry’s proposals contain a myriad of flaws, including the failure to give families of decedents representation on committees to investigate suicides and a lack of transparency, it said.
Ko should tackle the problem as his past involvement in the Hung case and current position as the defense minister makes him uniquely equipped for the task, it added.
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