Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday welcomed nine international experts to the opening of a week of meetings to review Taiwan’s implementation of two UN human rights covenants.
The meetings are also to involve government agencies and civil society groups. They were organized by the Ministry of Justice and the Executive Yuan to provide input and recommendations regarding the nation’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Su touted Taiwan’s achievements over the past few years, saying it was the first nation in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019, and has striven to pass laws to better protect the rights of migrant workers, including foreign fishers on ocean-going vessels.
Photo: CNA
The government aims to end inequality and discrimination, and is working on new policies to protect people’s digital and environmental rights, he said.
Su reminded the audience that in the recent past, Taiwan was not a free, open society like many other advanced nations.
“It was only 35 years ago that we were living under martial law, [involving] oppressive rule by an authoritarian regime,” Su said.
“Many sacrificed their lives, while others spent their youth shedding blood and tears to attain our democratic society,” he said, adding that this is why Taiwanese cherish their hard-fought freedom and human rights, and the nation would endeavor to safeguard these rights.
However, Taiwan now faces a powerful neighbor that is threatening to annex it, Su added.
Recommendations from past reviews have gradually been adopted, such as establishing the National Human Rights Commission in 2020, launching the “national human rights action plan” under the Ministry of Justice and setting up an office for human rights and transitional justice under the Executive Yuan late this year, he said.
The nine international experts attending the review include Manfred Nowak of Austria, a former UN special rapporteur on torture; Eibe Riedel of Germany, a former vice chairman of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; William Schabas of Canada, who has been described as “the world expert on the law of genocide and international law”; and Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago secretary-general Rukka Sombolinggi of Indonesia.
Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊) pointed to the review as proof of Taiwan’s willingness to improve on human rights and civil liberties, while respecting the rights of minority groups in a multicultural society, and its willingness to link up with the world, despite not being a member of the UN.
Taiwan is later this year to conduct reviews on UN conventions, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, she added.
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