The Presidential Office’s preparatory committee for judicial reform is to have group discussions once every two weeks starting on Feb. 20, which will culminate with a national affairs conference on judicial reform that is expected to take place in June and be presided over by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the office said yesterday.
The group discussions will be attended by five sub-committees that consist of 75 professionals in total, including 35 judicial and legal experts and 40 non-legal practitioners, Presidential Office spokesperson Chang Wen-lan (張文蘭) said.
“The delegates will be nominated by their peers from jurisprudential and legal fields, with 10 delegates from prosecutors, 10 from court judges, 10 from lawyers, and five from law school academics and professors,” Chang told a news conference at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Photo: CNA
“The process has been under way for the past two months, soliciting and consulting opinions from the public and the judiciary. We have received about 1,000 suggestions for judicial reform, which were compiled and consolidated into a list of 20 major issues that has been published on the Presidential Office’s Web site,” said the preparatory committee’s deputy executive secretary Lin Feng-cheng, a consultative member of the National Security Council who also attended the news conference.
The major issues will serve as the basis of discussion for the five sub-committees at the committee’s biweekly discussion meeting, Lin said, adding that although each sub-committee is expected to hold six discussion sessions in the course of three months, more meetings could be arranged depending on the complexity of the issues they cover.
The five sub-committees are responsible for five different areas: protection of victims and disadvantaged people in society; establishment of a fair, trustworthy and professional judicial system; establishment of an efficient and accountable judicial system; establishment of a transparent and inclusive judicial system; and safeguarding social security, according to the office.
The committee is scheduled to hold its last meeting on Feb. 13 to finalize the list of participants and topics of discussion.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said the public has demanded better governance and accountability from the government after it took office in May last year, while civil servants have been facing increasing challenges.
“The justice ministry have brought together several top members of our judicial system and hope they would provide suggestions at the pending national affairs conference on pension reform,” Chiu said, adding that the ministry has a responsibility in upholding the rule of law, promoting democratic development and safeguarding human rights.
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