While receiving exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng (
After the Republic of Ireland achieved its ultimate independence from the UK in 1949, problems relating to Northern Ireland became the key disputes between the two nations. There was conflict in Northern Ireland, as the fight between Roman Catholics and Protestants, and the dispute over who should govern the territory continued for decades.
The turning point came on April 10, 1998 when the UK and the Republic of Ireland jointly signed the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) -- under which the British and the Irish agreed to rebuild their relations based on forgiveness, mutual trust and protection of human rights.
Both states also agreed to establish national human rights commissions as the fundamental institutions for protecting human rights.
On the one hand, the British government agreed to pass a law to establish the "Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission." To ensure that the commission would operate independently, the government passed the Northern Ireland Act 1998 -- in compliance with a commitment made in the Good Friday Agreement. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission came into existence on March 1, 1999.
On the other hand, the Irish government also promised to fully protect human rights and to draft a bill of rights as well as to supplement the European Convention on Human Rights. The Irish government also vowed to maintain its own standards of human rights protection no lower than the standards of Northern Ireland, and to formally establish a human rights commission with equivalent authority and functions to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. The Irish government proposed a bill for a human rights commission to its parliament in February 1999 and the law was passed on May 31, 2000.
In the Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish governments agreed that after their own rights commissions were formed, the two commissions would further establish a joint committee as a formal institution for protecting the rights of all Irish. Meanwhile, the two commissions might come up with a human rights charter to promote basic rights.
Thus, the British and the Irish have chosen to resolve political disputes, jurisdiction issues and religious conflicts democratically and peacefully, through the Good Friday Agreement. Their idea of establishing human rights commissions together to promote human rights and to ease cross-border conflicts is worth studying.
As far as the cross-strait situation is concerned, first, Taiwan should establish a national human rights commission which complies with the requirements of the UN's "Paris Principles."
Second, Taiwan can learn from the British and the Irish example and seek assistance from the international community in order to reach a joint agreement with Beijing in maintaining peace and human rights.
Third, the US government is planning to move a motion at the UN Commission on Human Rights to condemn China's human rights abuses. Due to external pressure, the Chinese authorities recently agreed to sign an international agreement to promote economic, cultural and social rights, which bodes well for the possibility of establishing a cross-strait human rights commission or a cross-strait human rights international forum in the future.
Since there is an international trend towards the protection of human rights, it should be realized both in Taiwan and in China.
It is to be hoped that both sides of the Strait will abide by the Paris Principles to establish their rights commissions in order to thoroughly practice human rights protection. Meanwhile, both sides should try to reach a peace agreement similar to the Good Friday Agreement in order to uphold peace and human rights.
Liao Fu-te is an assistant research fellow of the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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