Fostering greater transparency and accountability of government and multinational corporate leaders is fundamental to protecting the rule of law, former Irish president Mary Robinson said yesterday, a day after attending a ceremony to receive the Tang Prize in Rule of Law.
“We now face a moment in which the legitimacy of the rules-based international order that has been so carefully built up over more than 75 years could be on the verge of a complete unraveling,” Robinson said in her Tang Prize lecture in Taipei.
The Tang Prize Selection Committee on June 21 named Robinson as the winner of the prize this year for demonstrating “an effective combination of legal acumen and practical solutions” in her “powerful advocacy” for climate justice, human rights, gender equality and poverty alleviation.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Governments and corporate actors should be held accountable under laws that are clear, publicized, stable and applied evenly, she said in her talk, in which she highlighted the “severe erosion” of the rule of law and human rights around the world in the past few years.
More than 6 billion people live in countries where the rule of law has weakened over the previous year, she said, citing the 2023 Rule of Law Index published by the World Justice Project, an international nonprofit headquartered in Washington.
The index also showed that in less than a decade, key human rights indicators, including civic participation, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, have declined at an alarming rate, she said.
Robinson said that the US government’s actions following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks were the onset of the “disturbing global trend.”
She was referring to Washington’s withdrawal in 2002 from the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq without the authorization of the UN Security Council.
“In the years since, the lack of any real accountability for those decisions has severely undermined faith in the international rule-based order,” Robinson said.
Russia’s “unwarranted” and “brutal” invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and “the disproportionate response by the Israeli government in Gaza to the unspeakable Hamas terrorist attack” in October last year indicated that the situation was “even more precarious,” she said.
Robinson also said that the response of Western governments to recent regional conflicts exposed a “double standard,” saying they had been “even more damaging” to the world order, which required “the fair and consistent implementation of international law.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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