The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAFHR) yesterday said that Taiwan's record on human rights remains substantially unchanged, although it highlighted certain areas in which it said improvements had been made.
"Nothing has really changed. Although President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) vowed to turn Taiwan into a human-rights-oriented nation, there are more negative human rights news incidents than positive ones this year. The government must improve its record and there is still a lot it needs to do," Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正), president of TAFHR, said during a press conference yesterday morning.
The association held the event to release its top 10 human rights stories of the past year, six of which it said were negative while four were indicative of improvements in certain areas.
Among the 10 main incidents Taiwan's failure to consider Chinese dissident Tang Yuanjun's (唐元雋) request for asylum. Originally listed as a negative, it was removed to the positive category after he was granted political asylum by the US.
Lin explained that the Taiwan government's efforts in the Tang case had contributed to the US decision.
Tang swam to Kinmen on Oct. 15. Kinmen Prosecutors' Office announced Nov. 12 that it would not prosecute him. He will depart for New York on Friday.
The government's progress toward abolishing capital punishment, the Atomic Energy Council's (AEC) compensation of residents of the Taipei Minsheng Villas and the of the Gender Equality Labor Law completed the list of positive human-rights stories.
In January, the High Court ordered the AEC to pay NT$54 million in compensation to individuals who lived in Taipei Minsheng Villas in the 1980s for its failure to outlaw steel containing radioactive material.
The High Court Prosecutors' Office's raid on Next magazine's office after it reported on two secret funds at the National Security Bureau at the end of March was selected as one of the six most serious human-rights violations.
Taiwan's forced detention of foreign criminals for protracted periods under unclear regulations was also selected as a negative story. Irishman Sheridan Leslie Cox, leader of the Menden Prior international criminal ring and wanted on suspicion of fraud by the British government, left Taiwan a few months ago. He was held for 468 days without being charged.
An amendment to regulations by the Mainland Affairs Council making it more difficult for Chinese spouses of Taiwan nationals was also given a negative rating, as was the government's storing of radioactive waste on Orchid Island, despite the objections of the local Aboriginal population.
TAFHR also cited numerous incidents of child abuse that made headlines in the past year, saying that Taiwan lacks proper protections of children's rights.
Both the proposed national fingerprint database and health insurance IC cards that would carry patients' personal medical files were considered threats to the privacy of the people of Taiwan and storing of radioactive waste on Orchid Island, despite the objections of the local Aboriginal population listed these issues on its list of negative news incidents of this year.
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