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如何落實兩公約，國際社會都在看！
May 14th, 2009 by tahr

新聞報導：東亞人權團體：政院版集遊法 牴觸兩人權公約

News: Rights activists urge Ma to turn words into action

台權會新聞稿

如何落實兩公約，國際社會都在看！–東亞人權代表團呼籲台灣政策應比照國際標準 記者會

Our Solidarity with Taiwan: East Asian Human Rights Defenders Call on Taiwan to fully Implement ICCPR and ICESCR Statement Read the rest of this entry »

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EDITORIAL: An exercise in wasting time
Apr 29th, 2009 by tahr

EDITORIAL: An exercise in wasting time

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009, Page 8

For civic groups that long hoped for an overhaul of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the amendment expected to pass soon is disheartening. It fails to resolve the problems with the law that prompted calls for an amendment in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »

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KMT tosses gauntlet at Taiwan human rights
Apr 28th, 2009 by tahr

KMT tosses gauntlet at Taiwan human rights

Taiwan News, Staff Writer Page 6 2009-04-28 12:30 AM

Taiwan’s eroding standard of civic and human rights faces a new threat from the restored rightist Kuomintang government under President Ma Ying-jeou in the form of regressive revisions to the already restrictive Assembly and Parade Law.

Last Friday, opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers occupied the Legislative Yuan Speaker’s podium and blocked passage of the KMT’s proposed revisions, but the bill may be rammed through by the ruling party’s three-fourths majority today over the protests of human rights, judicial reform and other civic and social groups and the DPP itself.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Activists pan changes to Assembly and Parade Act
Apr 28th, 2009 by tahr

Activists pan changes to Assembly and Parade Act

By Shelley Huang STAFF REPORTER Tuesday, Apr 28, 2009, Page 2

Civic groups yesterday slammed the government over a proposed amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) that would require demonstrators to notify authorities of any demonstration ahead of time, saying that it violated international conventions.

The Taiwan Association for Human Rights said the amendment was not only a violation of human rights, but that it also violated the UN’s International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which was ratified by the legislature last month. Read the rest of this entry »

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The First Step toward International Human Rights Standards
Apr 13th, 2009 by tahr

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.

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批准兩公約的時代意義
Apr 6th, 2009 by tahr

批准兩公約的時代意義(本文刊載於2009年4月3日中國時報論壇，此為原文)

/黃文雄（國際特赦組織台灣分會理事長、台灣人權促進會顧問）

3月31日立法院審查通過了兩項國際公約。這種事在比較文明的國家都是大事，但是次日的我國報紙卻只有一家刊了一小則。本文將嘗試填補這個令人難以了解的漏洞，並稍作評論。

這兩個公約是「經濟社會與文化權利國際公約」及「公民政治權利國際公約」（英文是covenant，不同於其他公約的convention），並與世界人權宣言，合稱國際人權憲章。相對於其他的人權公約，具有某種母法的地位。其重要性可想而知，至今已有150多個締約國。國際公約之生效，通常必須經歷三道程序，亦即簽署、批准（國會審查通過並由國家元首簽署批准書）、以及送到聯合國秘書處存放。我國雖於1967年簽署，以後的程序卻一路走來，極盡坎坷。

首先是，威權時代對走完程序的顧忌極深，和其他不少人權公約一樣，幾乎是做完簽署的國際公關之後，墨跡未乾，即鎖入外交部的檔案櫃。1971年退出聯合國之後，更為政府和社會所遺忘，九十年代後期才被民間人權組織挖掘出土，開始推動。前任政府接手進行，經歷三屆國會，未有結果。

這次國會審查終於通過，有幾點值得讚許：

首先，不像之前，雖然兩任政府之行政院都主張全文通過，立法院卻保留了三個條文，並對兩公約共有的第一條「人民自決權」附加宣誓（北京於批准經濟社會與文化公約時也不曾有此作法）。這次全文通過，不能說沒有進步。

第二，立法院於兩公約之外，並通過一個施行法，明定兩公約不必送到聯合國存放即有國內法的效力;優先編定落實的經費預算；各級政府機關並應於兩年內檢討法令措施，有不符兩公約規定者必須完成修法或改進等等。

第三，施行法也明定，依兩公約之規定，定期針對施行成效，建立國家人權報告制度。一旦實施，我國民間人權組織將可像其他文明國家一樣，提出反報告或「影子」報告，對政府的成績進行監督。

第四，良好的政府政策，應有持續性與累積性。兩公約由前任啟動，現任完成，是一個良好的示範。前任已有國家人權「試行報告」，此後將有正式報告，即是一例。

但是這個難得的成績，也有值得進一步思考的地方。前文提及，威權時期簽、批人權公約時，「自由中國」之國際公關成分居多；退出聯合國後，更和國際人權體系斷絕了連繫，政府有關人權事務的知識和資訊，尚不如民間（連最最基本的兩本國際人權法彙編也是人權團體努力的成果）。前述施行法將檢討廢現有法令措施的工作交給「各級政府機關」，其成效品質如何，不難預測。解決之道，應該是成立一個聯合國已經提倡多年，連北京也在籌備成立的國家人權委員會。前任政府曾經有相關設置草案，可惜受阻於立法院。下周民間聯盟即將開會討論已經完成的新民間版草案，政府也應該思考設立人權專責機構的問題。

民間人權組織已經在準備個案，以測試兩公約在國內的使用。媒體公器至少也應該盡點報導的責任吧?

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Rights groups hail ratification of UN pacts
Apr 3rd, 2009 by tahr

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

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