Human rights groups yesterday welcomed the legislature’s ratification of two UN human rights conventions on Tuesday — 42 years after their signing — and called on the government to turn the treaties into national policy.
“The Taiwan Association for Human Rights welcomes the ratification of the two important international treaties on human rights,” association secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) said, adding that the ratification was a milestone in the campaign to improve human rights protection.
Tsai was referring to the legislature ratifying the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and adopting the Act Governing Execution of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (公民與政治權利國際公約及經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法).
Then-ambassador to the UN Liu Chieh (劉鍇) signed the two covenants on Oct. 5, 1967, but the legislature only validated them on Tuesday.
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) hailed the ratification, but said the government had to turn the treaties into policies.
“Article 6 of the ICCPR says that in countries with the death penalty, the penalty can only applied to the most serious crimes,” Lin said. “Under international practice, ‘most serious crimes’ refer to those that violate other people’s right to life.”
In Taiwan, drug trafficking and gang rape are punishable by death.
Tsai said the Cabinet’s proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) would violate articles 21 and 22 of the ICCPR, which state: “the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right,” except for in cases when national interest, public security and public heath may be threatened.
Meanwhile, Tsai said he doubted the government was sincere about enforcing the treaties, since a clause in the draft of the law stipulating that the law would take effect upon its passage was changed to “the date that the law takes effect shall be decided by the Executive Yuan.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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