Workers’ groups yesterday called a press conference to protest the omission of the right to strike from a UN covenant signed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) earlier this year, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the omission was unintentional and it had forwarded a correction to the legislature earlier this week.
The Taiwan Labour Front and other civic groups said part of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that guarantees the right to strike was excluded from the version adopted by Taiwan and demanded that it be reinstated before it takes effect next month.
Article 18, clause d, of the UN covenant reads: “The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure ... The right to strike, provided that it is exercised in conformity with the laws of the particular country.”
On March 31, the legislature ratified the Act Governing the Execution of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (公民與政治權利國際公約及經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法). Ma signed the legislation in May.
The ratification of the two UN covenants drew praise from local NGOs including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, who expressed hope that the covenants would play a role in strengthening human rights in Taiwan.
Taiwan Labour Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said yesterday that the omission of the right to strike was “a step backward in terms of Taiwan’s human rights development.”
The groups called on the government to revise the legislation before Dec. 10, international Human Rights Day, when the covenants are scheduled to take effect in Taiwan.
But MOFA told the Taipei Times later yesterday that the omission was unintentional and an amendment had already been forwarded to the legislature on Monday.
MOFA Deputy Spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the version of the two UN covenants was written years ago and was based on the UN’s official Chinese and English texts.
“Taiwan composed its own covenant many years ago by mirroring the UN version, but our personnel at the time somehow unintentionally failed to record the content verbatim and accidentally left that part out,” Chang said, adding that the ministry was “sincerely” sorry.
No one noticed the error, even when the covenants were sent to the legislature for review, Chang said.
But MOFA discovered the omission earlier this month while performing a double-check of Taiwan’s version of the covenants against the UN documents, he said.
When the mistake was found, MOFA notified the Executive Yuan and provided a revised copy of the document, which was forwarded to the legislature on Monday, Chang said.
When asked for comment earlier yesterday, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the office would look into the matter before determining whether to take any action or punish anyone.
Wang said workers’ groups should not doubt the commitment of Ma and his administration to labor rights.
“The president has [previously] promised to conduct a blanket review of all laws and regulations within two years of the two UN covenants being promulgated to ensure that they conform to the spirit of the two covenants,” Wang said.
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