Taiwan’s civil society supports the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of June 4th

We still remember, exactly twenty years ago, how we shed tears as we watched on television the tanks roll into Beijing city, the blood stream down the faces of students and ordinary citizens. We also remember, how Taiwanese politicians both in government and in opposition condemned the Chinese Communist Party, and how celebrities held hands and sang for the demonstrators. We remember, that was the “Wound of History.” [1]

Twenty years later, the people of Taiwan appear to be suffering from collective amnesia. Today, Taiwan’s media and ruling party sing praise for economic development, lauding China’s scenic areas and the impressive architecture in Shanghai and Beijing. We seem to forget that over the past twenty years, China has continued to be ruled by an authoritarian regime. Those who took part in the 1989 demonstration for democracy are still in jail or in exile, and their mothers are still weeping in the darkness. In every corner of China, people are being arrested and locked up for speaking for human rights and protecting minorities. Are we still going to turn a blind eye?

Why should the people of Taiwan pay attention to June 4th? Because this is an important test of our belief in democracy.

First of all, as citizens of a democratic country that fought hard for our democracy, we firmly believe that democracy and human rights are universal values. As we strive to improve our own democracy, we should also care about human rights and democracy in neighboring countries and stand in solidarity with those democracy fighters.

Secondly, the current situation is that economic interests have gained the upper hand in cross-strait relations. Ever since 1989, China has been focused only on making money, while muting all calls for political reform. As Taiwan develops closer ties with China, we seem to have been affected by historical amnesia and democratic apathy. In this atmosphere of cross-strait reconciliation, economic interests have become the top priority whereas human rights seem to be taboo. But if we ignore the call for human rights and democracy out of fear of upsetting China, wouldn’t that be the greatest mockery of the democratic ideals that we ourselves fought so hard for?

We can no longer remain apathetic. On the twentieth anniversary of June 4th, we call on all sectors of Taiwanese society to express our firm commitment to the pursuit of democracy and human rights, to support the prosecution of those responsible for June 4th, and to push for democracy in China.

Signatories:

Mab Huang (黃默), Professor, Soochow University’s Chang Fo-chuan Center for the Study of Human Rights

Peter Huang (黃文雄), Chairman, Amnesty International Taiwan

Wang Hsing-chung (王興中), Director, Amnesty International Taiwan

Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), Secretary-General, Taiwan Association for Human Rights

Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡), Executive Director, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty

Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), Executive Director, Deng Liberty Foundation

Li Jieh-mei (李介媚), Office Director, Deng Liberty Foundation

Tieh-chih Chang(張鐵志), Writer

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[1] “The Wound of History” was the name of a song that a chorus of Taiwnese pop celebrities sang in support of the Tiananmen demonstrators.

Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) welcomes Taiwan’s ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) on March 31. The government signed the two covenants in 1967 but failed to ratify them in the following 42 years due to the changes of international relations and local political rivalry.

After Taiwan was forced to withdraw from UN in 1971, more than 23 million people were left out from the protection of international human rights mechanism and isolated from international human rights development. Although Taiwan is now not a member of UN, TAHR still expects the subsequent impacts on promotion and protection of human rights after the ratification.

Since the Taiwanese government has shown its resolution on bringing the domestic legislation to meet the international human rights standards by pushing the ratification, TAHR is thus eager to see the full implementation of the two covenants in the future. We particularly attend to the following articles:

1. Article 6: Right to life.
Right to life is the inherent right and the fundamental right of all rights of every human being. The right is protected by law and cannot be deprived arbitrarily by any means. According to this article, the states parties should progressively implement abolition of death penalty and practice alternative policies. Taiwan, as a country moving to its four-year moratorium, is no exception.

2. Article 21: Right to assembly.
Right to assembly is the fundamental right for people to convey their opinions. It is acknowledged in the ICCPR that “the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right”. However, the amendment bill of the Assembly and Demonstration Law proposed by the Executive Yuan has infringed this acknowledgement. We therefore urge the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan to amend the bill in accordance with the ICCPR, to fully protect the right to peaceful assembly.

3. Article 40: The obligation to submit reports.
It is laid down in the ICCPR that the States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to submit reports on the measures they have adopted and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights. TAHR urges relevant sectors to take this obligation seriously, to make sure the reports as a mechanism to review progress and gaps of implementation of the two covenants.

We also call on the government to establish the national human rights commission promptly, as the monitor mechanism of the two covenants and other human rights matters. The movement of establishing the national institution led by civil society and TAHR has approached to its first decade, but until now it remain lacking positive response from the government.

Furthermore, we are concerned over the regulation in the enacting law of the two covenants which authorizes the Executive Yuan to decide the date of execution. We fear that whether the implementation of two covenants might be delayed because of the administrational indolence. We urge the government to provide a timetable of bring forth the implementation, to prove its determination of adopting the international standards.

Human rights groups yesterday welcomed the legislature’s ratification of two UN human rights conventions on Tuesday — 42 years after their signing — and called on the government to turn the treaties into national policy.

“The Taiwan Association for Human Rights welcomes the ratification of the two important international treaties on human rights,” association secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) said, adding that the ratification was a milestone in the campaign to improve human rights protection.

Tsai was referring to the legislature ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and adopting the Act Governing 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). Then-ambassador to the UN Liu Chieh (劉鍇) signed the two covenants on Oct. 5, 1967, but the legislature only validated them on Tuesday.

Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) hailed the ratification, but said the government had to turn the treaties into policies. “Article 6 of the ICCPR says that in countries with the death penalty, the penalty can only applied to the most serious crimes,” Lin said. “Under international practice, ‘most serious crimes’ refer to those that violate other people’s right to life.” In Taiwan, drug trafficking and gang rape are punishable by death.

Tsai said the Cabinet’s proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) would violate articles 21 and 22 of the ICCPR, which state: “the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right,” except for in cases when national interest, public security and public heath may be threatened.

Meanwhile, Tsai said she doubted the government was sincere about enforcing the treaties, since a clause in the draft of the law stipulating that the law would take effect upon its passage was changed to “the date that the law takes effect shall be decided by the Executive Yuan.”

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Apr 02, 2009, Page 3 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/04/02/2003439999