Several civic groups yesterday called on the Control Yuan to look into dozens of cases of prolonged pretrial detention of foreigners and to reprimand government agencies for negligence of duty.
Holding various posters, including one that read: “Foreigners in Taiwan are not granted human rights as they are outside the protection of the law,” the groups urged the government watchdog to address the system that discriminates against aliens.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) said that at the Taipei detention center alone — one of four centers nationwide that hold foreign nationals — dozens of aliens have been detained for more than 120 days even though they have not received sentences exceeding three months.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Infringement of the liberty of aliens like this is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved,” TAHR secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) said.
The groups said the longstanding problem rested with the National Immigration Agency (NIA), prosecutors’ offices and courts that have procrastinated over holding trials involving detained aliens, as well as the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan, which have failed to address the human rights violations.
As an example, the groups said authorities detained two Thai migrant workers who were listed as witnesses in a human-trafficking case against employers, for expired visas, for 11 months from September last year.
“The Taiwanese government has been boasting that Taiwan has been given first-class status by the US Department of State in combating human trafficking for two consecutive years. However, is this really how a first-class country treats an alien in detention?” Tsai asked.
In a letter presented to the Control Yuan, the TAHR said that several aliens held at the Taipei detention center for between five and 14 months were detained in connection with crimes in six cases that were all summary offenses, but the Taoyuan District Court had refused to begin their trials.
“The NIA, prosecutors and the court all deserve to be censured,” Tsai said.
Extension of detention is based on Article 38 of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), which stipulates that detention shall not exceed 60 days, but if necessary, the NIA could prolong the period until the alien is deported.
“The Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan have turned a deaf ear to our requests to examine the constitutionality of the article,” Tsai said.
The government has taken the lead in infringing human rights by violating the non-discrimination principle enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that freedom of liberty, movement and a fair trial are rights enjoyed by everyone regardless of nationality, the groups said.
The government must offer compensation for illegal detention to affected aliens in accordance with the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法), they said.
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