The results of a poll released yesterday to coincide with Human Rights Day gave President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) a failing grade on her efforts to improve human rights issues, while Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, and pro-China political parties scored zero, because they refused to take the survey.
Tsai fared well when asked how committed she was to act on suggestions following a review of enforcement acts for five UN human rights covenants that have been made local laws, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) told a news conference in Taipei.
However, she skipped three questions on her position regarding passing amendments to the Mining Act (礦業法), a proposed refugee act and potential risks to people’s privacy associated with the planned issuance of electronic national identification cards next year and possible ways to safeguard personal information, which brought her total score to 2.5 out of 10, Chiu said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Association deputy secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said that as the president, Tsai has an advantage, as she has promised to continue efforts to make international human rights covenants local laws, including ones that would ban torture, protect people from “forced disappearances” and offer better protection to foreign workers and their families.
That earned her a high score of more than seven out of 10 points, he said.
The areas in which Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not do well were housing justice, people’s right to assembly and housing projects for Aborigines living in urban areas, he added.
Association housing rights advocate Yu Yi-chia (余宜家) said it was regrettable that the DPP has swayed from the housing platform it proposed four years ago and adopted a development-oriented policy that would bring about a system of forced evictions and ecological damage, while ignoring the housing rights of Aborigines.
The New Power Party (NPP) performed best in terms of housing rights, giving detailed answers on development policies; urban regeneration; land expropriation and rezoning; and Aboriginal housing rights, she said.
Attorney Rich Fun (李奇芳) said that when asked for its views on amending the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the DPP said only that the act is unconstitutional and contravenes Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
However, the DPP has failed to leverage its legislative majority by not taking any action to amend the act, such as by implementing rules that would allow people to hold rallies by notifying the government rather than seeking its consent or canceling a rule that picket lines must be drawn, he said.
The Green Party received the highest score, more than eight points, in assembly rights, followed by the NPP, which scored seven.
The Green Party had the best overall score, 7.7, followed closely by the NPP, which trailed by less than half a point. The DPP, which scored 4.3, ranked fourth after the Social Democratic Party.
The political parties that are typically categorized as pro-China — the KMT, the New Party, the People First Party and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) Taiwan People’s Party — did not provide any answers, resulting in scores of zero.
It is a shame that these opposition parties, which would benefit the most from improved rights to hold assembly, did not seem to care about the issue at all, Fun said.
With such indifference toward human rights, it is hard to imagine where these parties would lead the nation after the Jan. 11 elections, Chiu said.
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