No grasp of international law
The failure of certain members of the Control Yuan and their advisors to understand the role of the National Human Rights Commission as reported in your paper ("Turf battle over rights agency stirs," June 12, page 3) shows the lamentable grasp of international law here in Taiwan among persons who should know better.
The Control Yuan and the commission are distinct in the laws they refer to, their scope of investigation and their jurisdiction. The Control Yuan takes the Constitution as its fundamental reference point; the commission takes international human- rights standards, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed by the ROC in 1976, as its fundamental point of reference.
While the Control Yuan is only mandated to "investigate executive departments," the commission looks at all abuse of human rights, whether they are found in government, business or private sectors. Hence the Constitution itself is subject to scrutiny by the commission.
While the commission has the power to investigate all cases, it is not itself a court and, in those cases where disputes cannot be settled by mediation, it can forward cases to the courts where its members may be called to testify, but only as expert advisors.
The establishment of the commission may indeed require constitutional amendments, in which case these should be undertaken immediately. If it is not yet possible to amend the Constitution, then the commission should still be established and once its working is better understood, the Constitution may be suitably amended to establish the commission by writing it into the Constitution.
I also suggest that all law professionals take a course in international human-rights law and that the standards of international law, accepted by the ROC in 1948 by the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in 1976 by the signing of the Covenant, are fully implemented.
Edmund Ryden
Hsinchuang
Lien hardly democratic
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) talks like Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基), who warned the voters of Taiwan during the 2000 presidential election ("Lien warns IDU on the `DDP threat'," June 12, page 3). No wonder Lien and others have been accused of "allying with communists against Taiwan."
I don't understand why the International Democratic Union asked Lien to give a speech at its recent meeting in Washington. Lien is far from being democratic.
After losing his presidential bid in 2000, Lien blamed former president Lee Teng-hui (
The KMT imposed martial law on Taiwan for 40 years; single-handedly ruled Taiwan for 55 years and banned opposition parties during the martial law era.
A KMT victory in 2004 would only lead Taiwan to become a second Hong Kong,against the will of the people of Taiwan.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
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