Tue, Aug 14, 2018 page3

• A year in, government has not enacted promised judicial reforms, groups say

  LACK OF EMPATHY: A judge in a sexual assault case asked a migrant worker why she had not bitten the perpetrator’s genitals, showing the need for education, the groups said

  • By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter
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  A coalition of civic groups yesterday criticized the government’s judicial reform as ineffective, saying that many changes proposed by the National Congress on Judicial Reform a year ago have barely been implemented.

  Since the congress was convened on the orders of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in August last year, the government has begun working on a number of draft bills and amendments based on its suggestions, yet measures that do not require any new laws remain far from being implemented, Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF) chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) told a news conference in Taipei.

  The inefficiency of the reform is due to opposition from within the judicial system, Lin said.

  “Apparently, most people within the system are against reform and the heads of agencies have decided to side with the bureaucrats, rather than the people,” he said.

  The JRF and a dozen other civic groups, including the Garden of Hope Foundation (GHF), Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Red Cross, said that the government for has disregarded many of the National Congress’ resolutions.

  For example, the National Police Agency has not established committees on police education and performance evaluation, as suggested by the congress, they said, adding that it has only been willing to hold consultations nature on the issue.

  The committees had been recommended as part of a solution to the existing performance evaluation system, which is not only ineffective, but leads to police officers being overworked, they said.

  Meanwhile, law enforcement has continued to violate the principle of keeping investigations confidential, ignoring the congress’ advice, they said.

  Last month, pictures, police footage and personal information of a 10-year-old suspect in an alleged fraud case were published by a number of media after being leaked by police, they said.

  When the JRF reported the leak to the National Police Agency, it said that the police station did not find any evidence of misconduct by its officers, the groups added.

  The government has adopted a number of policies suggested by the congress, but it needs to ensure that they are implemented, they said.

  For example, the Judicial Yuan in October last year established a committee to protect children’s rights and gender equality based on a congress resolution, but whether it will help depends on how the committee will be run, they said.

  Many judges and prosecutors still lack gender awareness and do not understand the complexity of sexual assault, GHF chief executive Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said.

  “A prosecutor asked a female migrant worker who had been sexually assaulted why she did not bite the man’s genitals and why she did not immediately call for help,” Chi said. “He was unable to comprehend the vulnerable situation that she was in — the language barrier, her doubts about the reliability of our judicial system and that she lived in her employer’s house.”

  More education on such issues is urgently needed for judges and prosecutors, she added.

  “If the government was a manufacturer, what it is doing at the moment would be equivalent to disregarding quality control and turning a blind eye to customer complaints,” Lin said.

  To regain the public’s trust, the government must follow through on judicial reform, he said.
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