One Year On: Justice - Too much empty talk undermines commitment to human rights

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) proclamation that his administration would place human rights policies at the top of its agenda was hailed as a ground-breaking moment.

A year has since gone by and indeed the Chen administration has made vigorous efforts to fulfill its pledges in respect to human rights. But rights activists, who once highly approved of the pledges, are now becoming more reserved toward the heavy load of slogans and what they regard to be empty talk from the president.

"We've seen the president speak about human rights at public speeches and banquets all over the country. Whatever the occasion might be, you can hear him saying that human rights should be the country's cornerstone," said Lin Feng-cheng (林峰正), chairperson of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (台灣人權促進會).

"His many slogans have become cheap diplomatic remarks without any real substance, and many measures have been taken without being thought through first. We're now feeling doubtful as to whether this administration is really determined to put those commendable slogans into practice, or if it really knows where to begin carrying out its promises," Lin said.

In his inauguration speech one year ago today, Chen outlined three policy directions for human rights, an area which had long been ignored and marginalized by former administrations.

The novel pledges -- to form a national human rights commission, to take world human rights standards and codify them in domestic law and to increase exchanges with international human rights organizations -- were warmly welcomed by many human rights activists who had fought against the odds in the past for people's rights and dignity.

Bo Yang (柏楊), a renowned author who was once jailed on account of his political beliefs, hailed the president's pledges as "unprecedented" and "exciting."

In retrospect, there have been a number of concrete measures taken by the Chen administration over the past year, including the establishment of a human rights advisory group last September, a set of presidential pardons last December, the drafting of a basic human rights law in March and recent attempts to push for the ratification of two fundamental UN human rights covenants.

The pardons, announced in December, allowed the exemption of sentences for a carpenter alleged to have been wrongfully convicted for armed robbery, a labor movement leader who was jailed for participating in a peaceful demonstration and 19 Jehovah's Witnesses who had refused to do military service because of their religious beliefs.

Rights advocates upheld these acts of clemency as a remarkable step which not only set a precedent for presidential pardons to be granted to prisoners of conscience other than political prisoners, but also prompted people to reflect on the drawbacks of the legal system.

Non-governmental organizations are also pleased with the idea of creating a national human rights commission and of incorporating world human rights standards within the domestic legal framework.

However, they have become less optimistic about the measures now that they feel something has gone wrong with their implementation by the Chen administration.

For instance, the draft of a basic human rights law, which in other countries often takes years of debate before being enacted, was rushed to completion in a matter of weeks by the Ministry of Justice.