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Activists prepare for rights day

"It saddens me that we have to bring most of the issues we are raising today to public attention, since most of them should be regarded as basic human rights."

Wu Jing-ru, secretary-general of the Taiwan International Worker's Association

The Taiwanese Association for Human Rights (TAHR) yesterday listed the denial of rights to lepers at the Losheng (Happy Family) Sanatorium and the leaking of private information on quarantined tuberculosis patients among the year's top human rights abuses, urging voters to evaluate legislative candidates based on their awareness of human rights.

With International Human Rights Day on Monday, the association yesterday held a press conference in Taipei to unveil the country's "top 10 human right news events" this year.

The association has designed a 25-question human rights survey, which they invited legislative candidates to take and "ponder their positions on a number of issues such as gay rights, the human rights of AIDS carriers and the death penalty," TAHR secretary-general Lin Shu-ya (林淑雅) said.

"A good legislator should possess a sound appreciation of human rights," Taiwan International Workers' Association secretary-general Wu Jing-ru (吳靜如) said.

"In the upcoming elections, we urge voters to choose their legislators wisely for the betterment of society," Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association founder Robin Winkler (文魯彬) said.

"It saddens me that we have to bring most of the issues we are raising today to public attention, since most of them should be regarded as basic human rights," Wu said.

One such basic human right, Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) said, was the abolishment of the death penalty.

"In an age when most developed countries have dropped the death penalty, Taiwan is still stubbornly holding on to this outdated law," Lin said, citing the 16-year-long judicial process of Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), one of the Hsichih Trio, who received a death sentence again in June.

"In addition, the fact that judges, who may lack `real life experience' and are made judges merely because they've passed an examination, are granted the power to determine whether another human lives or dies, is an issue worthy of re-examination," he said.

"It is equally despicable that we still see incidents of discrimination against and maltreatment of [runaway] migrant workers," Wu said.

"We have listed the top 10 events to remind people what they need to keep in mind when choosing their public servants," Lin said.　"On the issue of human rights, Taiwan cannot afford to go backwards."
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