A majority of the public feel that the government has failed to protect their basic human right to health and ensure fairness in the judiciary this year, a survey released yesterday by the Shih Hsin University Institute of Knowledge Economy Development indicated.
The survey, now in its seventh year, asked respondents to grade the government’s efforts to promote freedom and human rights on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 denoting abysmal,” 3 representing “fair” and 5 indicating “excellent.”
The survey’s methodology is based on a system created by Freedom House, a US watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world, the institute said.
The government’s score on “human right to health,” listed under the government’s “overall performance” to protect human rights, dropped from last year’s 2.5 to 2.1 this year, while the approval rating in the “right to fair trials” category fell from 2.3 to 1.9.
The ratings are likely to have been negatively impacted by the Changhua District Court’s decision to acquit six former Ting Hsin International Group managers of all charges related to a tainted oil scandal, institute assistant researcher Yeh Feng-ku (葉峰谷) said.
With the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections around the corner, the government’s score on the “right to elections” category took a major fall from 3.1 last year to 2.7 this year.
When asked "whether they agree" that death penalty "should be abolished," 22.8 percent of respondents said they partially disagree, while 61.6 percent said they completely disagree with it.
The survey asked respondents how often they came into contact with news about human rights and democracy, and researchers cross-referenced the answers given for each item, discovering that the more a person was exposed to information, the less likely they were to rate the government’s performance highly.
Presidential Office Human Rights Advisory Committee member Chai Sung-lin (柴松林) said that while he would not say that the court had issued an unjust verdict in the Ting Hsin case, the ruling was a “far cry” from public expectations, and this gave rise to the government’s poor ratings in the survey.
The nation’s legislative and judicial systems should be reviewed, and the results would have been quite different if the “innocent until proven guilty” principle adopted by the nation’s judiciary was replaced by the principle of acting in good faith, Chai said.
The ratings are not necessarily a setback for the nation’s democracy, as they could indicate that information is more accessible and that the public now has a better understanding or cares more about the issue of human rights, attorney Yang Fang-wan (楊芳婉) said.
Regarding the Ting Hsin case, abstruse language allowed judges to interpret national laws “to their liking,” she said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
RSS