The nation's human-rights situation is middling, with improvement needed in the areas of elderly and disability rights, this year's Taiwan Human Rights Indicator Survey released yesterday showed.
The survey, conducted jointly by the Chinese Association for Human Rights and the National Chengchi University College of Social Sciences, was based on 10 indicators: judicial rights, political rights, economic rights, women's rights, children's rights, rights of the elderly, laborers' rights, rights of the disabled, environmental rights and educational rights.
The survey showed that the rights of the elderly scored lowest of all -- 2.55 on a scale of 1 to 5.
Wang Yun-tung (
Safety, respect
The survey indicated that respondents were concerned that they are unable to walk and use public transportation with safety, comfort and respect.
James Hsueh, (
The survey also said that the country has not done enough to remedy the situation.
On the issue of disability rights, the country obtained a score of2.70.
As for women's right, the issue of women's personal security scored 2.48, indicating abuse of women, domestic-violence and sexual assault and harassment also were key concerns.
Education rights obtained a score of 3.18, and judicial rights scored 3.15 -- the highest results obtained.
On the issue of judicial rights, survey questions dealt with the investigation process conducted by police and prosecutors, the trial process, detention and imprisonment and the protection of victims of crimes.
Chen Jung-chuang (
`Delphi method'
Chairman of the association Lee Yun-ran (
The association has been conducting the annual human-rights indicator survey since 1991. New indicators and categories were gradually added over the years. Each indicator is polled separately.
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