The Judicial Reform Foundation yesterday petitioned Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), asking him to urge his fellow lawmakers to pass the Legal Assistance Law (法律扶助法), the Judge Law (法官法) and the Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan (司法院組織法).
"We need these three laws to be passed so that our justice system can effectively protect the human rights of both rich and poor people," said Shirley Lin (林靜萍), executive-general of the foundation.
At a meeting with members of the foundation yesterday morning, Wang promised to help, but did not attach any dates or guarantees to the process of passing these laws.
Lin said according to Wang the Legal Assistance Law would allow the Cabinet to budget NT$500 million annually to provide free legal services to people who cannot afford them.
Wang said that he would do his best to communicate with fellow lawmakers about the Judge Law and the Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan.
These three laws are currently pending final approval by the Legislative Yuan.
People First Party Legislator Cheng San-yuan (
According to Cheng's proposal, the law aims to provide free legal services to poor people. They will be assigned lawyers who will be paid out of a government fund.
The Judge Law, which was tabled by the Judicial Yuan in August, is aimed at protecting judges, ensuring that they are able to enforce the law and carry out their duties without any kind of pressure. The proposed law would also clearly regulate the recruitment and responsibilities of judges. It also contains clear regulations about retiring or firing judges who do not perform their jobs well.
The Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan has been pending final approval by the Legislative Yuan for more than a year. According to this bill, the Administrative Supreme Court, the Supreme Court and the Government Official Evaluation Committee will be dismissed and replaced by three new departments under the Judicial Yuan. The new bodies will be the Civil Court, the Criminal court and the Administrative and Evaluation Court.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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