The nation's overall human rights record has improved this year, while there is still room for improvement in various areas, according to the government's annual human rights report.
The 90-page report, compiled by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, encompasses four areas: basic individual rights; civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and equal rights for special and minority groups.
There is much room for improvement in basic individual rights because the death penalty is still on the books. Torture of prisoners, however, is no longer a routine practice and political prisoners no longer exist after the authoritarian Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost power in 2000, the report said.
People's freedom to conduct private communications is expected to be on a par with that of highly democratic countries, after the law governing surveillance and tapping is amended to transfer the right to tap to the judge instead of prosecutors, as it is now.
The government should reconsider launching the health insurance IC card and fingerprinting citizens when issuing the identification cards, which the report said would encroach on individual privacy.
As far as civil and political rights are concerned, although the media enjoyed more freedom this year, it also sabotaged the reputation of many regular citizens and public figures with erroneous reports.
Regular people also enjoy freedom to gather in crowds. The government, however, should endeavor to nullify articles specified in the "Gathering and Marching Law," outlawing citizens or civil groups from advocating Communism or ideas encouraging a split from the homeland.
The report also called on the government to allow civil servants and arsenal workers the right to form unions, while teachers were eventually granted the right to do so.
People's right of exercising direct democracy has not yet been realized, although the legislature eventually passed the Referendum Law this year. People's right to know official facts, however, is better safeguarded after the National Archives Law was passed into law.
In terms of economic, social and cultural rights, the government introduced various economy-boosting programs this year to combat the economic downturn and unemployment rate. The elderly also received more monthly pension with the approval of the legislature. Citizens' right of health was safeguarded as more than 96 percent of the population was covered by the national health insurance scheme. The government also paid more attention to the environment as the Environmental Protection Foundation Law took effect this year.
Although women enjoy a better social status, they still fall victim to domestic violence or sexual harassment. Children, who have been traditionally regarded by parents as their possessions, were easily abused. Aborigines enjoyed a better social and economic status but there was still a substantial gap between them and the Han people. The report also urged the government to amend existing laws or enact a new one to legalize same-sex marriages and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
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