The Civil Human Rights Association yesterday said that it would launch a petition for a referendum to deny parole to those who are serving a life sentence for abusing infants or children to death.
Association founder Ken Chang (張凱鈞) told a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei that there is a lack of administrative and legislative action to counter the increasing number of child abuse cases, adding that known cases of might only be the tip of the iceberg.
The association proposed offering subsidies to whistle-blowers and increasing the number of volunteer workers.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
Abusing children to death is considered manslaughter, Taiwan Children’s Rights director-general Wang Wei-chun (王薇君) said.
Accusing the administrative and legislative branches of passivity, Wang called on the candidates for next year’s presidential election to pledge actionable policies regarding the issue instead of empty slogans.
It does not matter whether capital punishment could serve as a deterrent, as it is the last form of justice for abused children, Wang said.
The government should abolish capital punishment if it would not use it, Wang added.
In related news, Anti-Drunk Driving Alliance founder Lee Tai-chung (李戴忠) said that preparations for next year’s elections have skewed the legislature’s focus, adding that if the proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) are not passed before the legislature goes into recess at the end of this month, then all efforts would have been in vain.
The proposals, which passed their third reading on March 26, include measures such as increasing traffic fines, installing ignition interlock devices on the vehicles of repeat drunk drivers, shared legal responsibility for passengers and impounding offenders’ vehicles.
However, they require the establishment of ancillary laws, which the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it would endeavor to complete within six months.
Lee urged the ministry to consider the deaths caused by drunk drivers as manslaughter, to detain drunk drivers and impound their vehicles for three days, implement an alcohol tax on retailers for “social responsibility,” implement subrogation rights for the government to act on behalf of victims, implement automatic sequestration of property to prevent the liquidation of assets by perpetrators, and establish a driving-under-the-influence hotline.
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