Both the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have failed to clarify their positions on land expropriation, the Taiwan Association of Human Rights said yesterday, releasing the presidential candidates’ responses to a human rights survey.
“We have not seen the two major party’s presidential candidates put forth any policy stances on resolving threats to residency rights,” association executive committee member Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said.
“Their responses have left us extremely disappointed, so we have to condemn the government and demand that the parties stake out positions,” Hsu said.
He said that while the government was legally obligated to protect residency rights, in practice it often facilitated forced land expropriation.
The questionnaire asked candidates if they supported a total review of expropriation laws and current cases, along with a ban on forced evictions, the association said.
While both DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) agreed on the need to review expropriation laws, letters from their campaign offices stated that they would only support reviewing expropriation cases over which lawsuits had been filed or for which there were grounds for suspicion of wrongdoing.
Neither candidate agreed to ban forced evictions.
While People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) responses showed that he agreed with the association, Hsu said that they would have to “listen to what he says and see what he does.”
Soong had made public statements suggesting he did not fully support residency rights, such as failing to strongly support public housing projects, Hsu said.
The group’s questionnaire included questions on protest rights, along with broader constitutional and administrative reforms.
The group called on the candidates to revise protest laws to eliminate penalties and fines against protesters, as well as replacing provisions requiring an “application” to protest in favor of “voluntary notification.”
They also called for the establishment of independent supervisory mechanisms to hold police officers responsible for misconduct towards protesters.
Tsai’s, Chu’s and Soong’s return letters all stated that they would support “notification” for protests, while stopping short of supporting “voluntary notification.”
Tsai and Chu said that they would support the establishment of independent supervisory mechanisms for police, while Chu said he would consider the matter. Only Soong stated that all penalties and fines against protesters should be eliminated.
Tsai and Soong also promised to establish an independent human rights council if elected, as well as a coordinating office within the Executive Yuan, while Chu said he would consider both matters.
Both Tsai and Soong voiced support for expanding the scope of constitutionally protected rights, but Chu ruled out directly expanding constitutional protections, saying that they should be allowed to evolve through judicial rulings.
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