The government plans to establish a national human rights institution to meet with the international Paris Principles standards, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday.
The institution would promote and protect human rights and aim to prevent major violations, Chen said at the opening ceremony of the meeting for the review of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights report.
On Dec. 10, 2009, Taiwan adopted two international human rights treaties, which were the basis for establishing a human rights reporting system, and in April 2012, presented its first national human rights report.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Taiwan invited independent human rights bodies from the international community to visit Taipei in 2013 to review the report.
The review of Taiwan’s second national report in Taipei began yesterday and concludes on Friday. It is being broadcast live.
“Human rights are no longer an issue limited to closed-door discussions,” said the Ministry of Justice, which is working with the Presidential Office’s Human Rights Consultative Committee, chaired by Chen, to host the review meeting.
Chen said that three of the nine core international human rights treaties have not yet become law, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The other two are the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, he said.
The government will make every effort to enact the legislation, Chen said.
The Paris Principles are key evaluation criteria for national human rights institutions. They were adopted unanimously in a resolution by the UN Human Rights Commission in 1993 and in the final acts of the Human Rights Conference that same year.
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