Introduction
The 1996 Human Rights Report is a focus of efforts to publicize the struggle for human rights and is a useful vehicle for those promoting human rights education among Taiwanese. As such, we hope that it can bolster support for the still-fledgling human rights community in Taiwan.
The Report has been written by several prominent Taiwanese lawyers, legislators, scholars, and activists. We would particularly like to thank the other local NGOs that contributed articles or information, including the Taiwan section of Amnesty International, the Judicial Reform Foundation, the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights, and the Environmental Protection Union.
This year's Report is dedicated to the memory of Peng Wan-ru, who was raped and murdered on November 30. As the Director of the Democratic Progressive Party's Women's Development and Action Committee, she had dedicated her life to the protection of the rights of women in Taiwan.
Human Rights in the Judicial System
Since justice in the courts must be established under the relationship between judges, lawyers, and prosecutors, if any of these has overreached its position, human rights can be threatened. Several problems are most prominent. First is the abuse of power by prosecutors. In the course of investigations, prosecutors frequently use detention and other punishments to exact cooperation from suspects as a means of investigating. In December 1995, the Council of Grand Justices ruled (Ruling 392) that the power of issuing a writ of detention lies only with judges, barring prosecutors from using this method; however, a two year grace period was ordered, during which prosecutors have made even more frequent use of this. In addition, the new procedure will not require a hearing or consultation with the judge, only a written approval.
Torture continues to be used to extract confessions from suspects. The right to remain silent is nowhere clearly stated in the Criminal Procedure Code. On the contrary, judges frequently use confessions given while in police custody as evidence, and the burden of proof is placed on the defendant to prove a claim of torture or other mistreatment.
The right to counsel, although provided for in law, is frequently not realized, and suspects are routinely interrogated without the aid of counsel. In January, two lawyers attempted to meet with a client who was being held at the Criminal Investigation Bureau, but they were blocked by the investigating officer; when they protested, they were forcibly removed from the building. Perhaps even more serious is the fact that the poorer members of society often have no representation at all, as there is no legal aid system, but only a very small number of lawyers who volunteer their time.
In the court, prosecutors are present in only a small minority of cases; this turns the adversarial aspect of the trial into one between the defense and the judge, who inevitably assumes the role of the prosecutor. The quality of judgments is generally poor, due to carelessness and laziness of judges; the frequent appeals and retrials this causes are a serious waste of time and money.
Abuses in the Investigation Process
Many serious problems occur at each stage of the investigation process, from the arrest to the trial. The reasons lie in the undue emphasis on achieving results and on the incentive structure for the investigators, such that they would rather "mistakenly punish than mistakenly free." This attitude is exacerbated by the emphasis on the use of confessions in the judicial system and the corresponding neglect of scientific evidence. More ominously, the most serious or complicated cases are handled by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the former secret police.
Currently, the most common abuses include: not allowing arrested persons to contact a lawyer or even their families; routine interrogation techniques (i.e., even when torture is not used) that resemble brainwashing, such as the use of exhaustion and lying about the statements of others; manipulating records, either by directly falsifying them, or by selectively choosing which to send to the prosecutors and courts. One area of some improvement this year was in the area of extended detentions, which are used to make suspects pliable. As a result of public pressure centered on the Council of Grand Justices Ruling 392 (see above), the use of this practice is diminishing.
The Death Penalty--A Drag on the Progress of Civilization
In Taiwan the death penalty continues to be widely used. It is in force for 160 crimes, of which 65 carry mandatory death sentences (just over half of these are in the Military Code). In 1996, 21 persons were put to death; five more remain on death row (Su Chien-ho, Liu Bin-lang, Chuang Lin-hsun, Liu Chi-hsun, and Wu Chien-hong), four of whom have been the subject of Amnesty International Urgent Actions.
The reason for the wide use of the death penalty is the fact that the vast majority of Taiwanese support it, out of a feeling of revulsion against violent criminals. The task for human rights activists is to educate the people, to teach them that the death penalty demeans rather than improves a society.
Reform of Police Power
Abuse of police power continued to be prevalent in 1996. Arbitrary roadside and street checks of identification papers became even more frequent, due to new policies against organized crime, prostitution, etc.; however, this practice has never been supported by law. The "hoodlum law," which gave wide discretionary powers to police in cases of "hoodlumism" (deliberately left vague) was struck down by the Grand Justices in July 1995, but the grace period extends to the end of this year, and police have made increasing use of the provisions in the final months. Police continue their practice of inviting the media to observe supposedly confidential investigation procedures, in order to boost their image; of course this practice has a serious effect on suspects, as public opinion brands them guilty before the trial has even begun. The impact of police abuses is magnified by the fact that prosecutors present police reports as evidence to judges before trial.
Many reforms are needed, including legislation defining the power of random checks and clarifying investigation procedures. In addition, since a major source of problems is lack of professionalism of the police, they need training in the concept and application of human rights (of which there is currently none).
Human Rights in the Military
Last year, a group of legislators applied for a ruling from the Council of Grand Justices on the constitutionality of the military justice system. The request rested on five main points: the military justice system is not under the judicial branch; Article 50 of the Military Code states that all military investigators and judges shall obey orders from superior officers; Art. 133 states that all judgments must receive the consent of the relevant unit commander; military prosecutors continue to possess the power of detention, ruled unconstitutional for civilian prosecutors; and military personnel are not given the right to an attorney during investigation. In practice, there are even more violations, such as the misuse of detention as an investigatory method and the refusal of the requests of lawyers to have proper access to their clients.
The ineffectiveness of the military justice system is thrown into relief by the large number of cases of injury and death which are never properly investigated or prosecuted. As in all recent years, 1996 saw far too many such cases. Most notorious was that of Tsai Chao-cheng, who went berserk, probably because of hazing by superiors, and opened fire on his comrades, killing four, then killed himself. In addition, the cases of two soldiers, Huang Kuo-chang and Lan Kuo-chung, who were found dead of mysterious causes, have until now not been explained adequately by the military justice authorities, despite the fact that their cases have officially been under investigation for more than one year.
Human Rights Education
The importance of human rights education has long been recognized internationally. Most recently, the United Nations has inaugurated the "Decade for Human Rights Education." However, in Taiwan human rights education is only at the very opening stage. Not only has Taiwan not participated in the international development of human rights theory, but some Asian countries have tried to argue that the basic values of human rights are not universal.
For the long decades in which Taiwan was under authoritarian rule, the very idea of human rights was strictly taboo. Since the democratic opening, social movements in many fields have emerged, some of which have had notable success in their areas, but largely without any sense of a common struggle for human rights and the need for overall human rights education. As a result, there is still no human rights-related material planned into the curriculum at any level of the educational system. Indeed, many standard texts actually violate human rights concepts; in addition, the schools are an inhospitable environment for human rights, as such practices as corporal punishment are still common. Even more urgently, even those with the most intimate relationship to human rights--judges, prosecutors, police, prison officials, and lawyers--do not receive any human rights instruction during their pre-professional training.
This year, there has been some progress. Members of the academic community have begun to focus on this problem. For example, a seminar at Soochow University in May produced a series of papers. In addition, a group of scholars from three universities has prepared a plan to edit curriculum materials (and has been awarded a grant from the National Science Council). Finally, the Taipei Bar Association has decided that it will add a human rights segment to its pre-professional training program.
Human Rights Update
Part I
1996 has seen a general increase in public perceptions of insecurity and social decline; several shocking cases of crime and corruption have dominated the media for much of the year. The authorities, in particular the police, have viewed this as an opportunity to expand their operations with relative impunity and to relax further the standards of protection for human rights. In one example, outcry against the use of certain vendors as fronts for prostitution has led to police campaigns and harassment against a whole category of businesses. In another, a notorious case of religious fraud has led to a crackdown on non-mainstream religious groups, as well as providing an opportunity to score political points against politicians (only those from the opposition) involved.
Part II
Among these sources of popular insecurity, the one that poses the most serious challenge to human rights, and indeed to the legal order itself, is the link between organized crime and politics. Growing awareness and concern about this issue in 1996 has led the government to initiate a high-profile campaign against the activities of organized criminals. As one part of this effort, the government has proposed an additional special criminal code, which has passed the first reading of the Legislative Yuan. However, it is just an instance of the government's use of the law as a public relations tool: the most trumpeted aspect, the bar on those convicted under the law from political participation (Art. 11), is already contained in the Criminal Code (Art. 37). The new law's "improvement" is to take away the discretion of judges and make such punishment mandatory.
Rights of Women
1996 has seen some incremental improvements in the legal rights of women. Notably, in the Family Law of the Civil Code, the process of reform of women's rights in divorce has progressed, with the retroactive granting of property rights to women married before 1985 and recognition of equal rights to raise the children.
However, many serious problems remain. In the workplace, women have suffered disproportionately from slower economic growth; they are frequently the first to be laid off. An official survey revealed that 38.4% of workers work under different sets of regulations for men and women in the area of salaries and promotions, and 25.5 % received different training based on their gender. A draft Equal Opportunity Law has been stalled in the legislature, due to the strong opposition of business leaders, 81.8% of whom oppose the principle of equal pay. Sexual harassment continues to be prevalent, with only the first stirrings of official action. This year, the Taipei city government became the first official body to punish a company for harassment; in another case, a high school head was disciplined after male students harassed female classmates.
Violence against women was much in the news in 1996. The government officially estimated that were at least 6000-7000 cases of sexual assault, with women under 20 and over 60 making up more than one-fifth of the victims. In the home, official estimates show that 19% of wives have been victims of domestic violence, with 30-70,000 cases annually. Two proposed laws to strengthen the protections for women, both at home and outside, have been held up in the Legislative Yuan.
Rights of Aboriginal Peoples
The plight of the Aboriginal peoples is a long-standing one, but it has shown little sign of improvement in recent years. The basic problem is that Aboriginal lands are continuously encroached upon by Han, to be developed for tourism or agriculture. In the past, government decrees nominally reserved the land for tribal use, but influential Han were always able to get land redesignated. The government itself has appropriated large areas for road projects, national parks, etc. Recently, groups of illegal Han landowners have formed lobby groups to exert control over local village authorities, in order to obtain legal sanction for their purchases. Some smaller tribes are virtually on the brink of extinction, for example the Lookai tribe in Pingtung county, all of whose lands are slated to be flooded or banned from agriculture for the construction of a reservoir.
As the land has been disappearing, Aborigines have been forced to migrate to the cities, where they face extreme discrimination. They are usually only able to find the most menial jobs, and are frequently reduced to squatting in such precarious places as under bridges and in construction sites. This year saw serious floods, which destroyed many of these houses; the government destroyed many others as well, in one case in Keelung leaving similar-quality Han settlements untouched.
Of the current population of 370,000 Aborigines, only 150,000 have any type of work at all, and half of those jobs are only temporary ones. The majority are also manual labor, the salaries for which have been steadily dropping with the introduction of foreign (i.e. Southeast Asian) workers. Cultural and language barriers exacerbate these problems, causing Aborigines to be cheated and paid less than Han for the same work. The spectre of ethnic conflict is raising its head.
This year, the Legislative Yuan has passed a bill concerning the Aboriginal situation. It will create an Aboriginal Affairs Committee within the government, but many are skeptical that it will have any real effect. The same bill also contained a dangerous provision on the dispensation of land (Art. 7 (8)), which mandates that all land disputes are to be resolved as quickly as possible, which can only endanger the Aborigines' chances of defending their rights.
Educational and cultural policy also deprives Aborigines of the right to their identity. Most seriously, they are not allowed to use their own names on their identity papers or when engaging on official transactions, but must take a Chinese name. This year, for the first time, the Ministry of Education has taken some steps toward addressing the serious crisis of Aborigines in the education system (where they are grossly underrepresented at all of higher levels), by proposing a law that would allow communities to choose their own manner of instruction.
In the last two years, many aboriginal leaders have been prosecuted by the authorities, rendering the Aborigines even more helpless.
Rights of Workers
Although the Constitution contains many fine statements about the right to work (Arts. 24, 152, 153), workers' rights in Taiwan remain precarious. The unemployment rate rose even faster in 1996 than in recent years, breaking 3% for the first time in ten years. From January-July, 15,000 factories closed, 33% more than in the same period of 1995. It must be noted that Taiwan has no system of unemployment insurance. When one agency proposed the creation of such a system, it was overruled by the Council for Economic Planning and Development. Instead, the government announced "ten measures to combat unemployment" in July, which consisted merely of restatements of existing ineffective policies. For example, it was announced that, instead of compensating laid-off workers, new jobs would be found for them; until now, 27 workers have been helped by this program.
The Labor Standards Law is the main legislation concerning basic working standards such as safety, hours, and pay. However, the proportion of Taiwan's workforce covered by the law has been steadily falling for years, from 66.7% in 1985 to 55.8% today. During this same period, the law has not been adjusted at all. Thus, almost half of Taiwanese have no regulation of their working conditions. Even those covered by the law do not have effective means of enforcing it. As an example of its archaic nature, the law mandates a 48-hour work week.
Faced with such serious violations of the right to work itself and the rudimentary regulation of working conditions, the core rights of labor, such as the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining, cannot be fully realized. Indeed, the law limits each factory or facility to a single union, the officially-created one. Independent unions do exist, but only unofficially; their leaders and organizers are continually subject to retributions by employers. Art. 154 of the Constitution provides that, "Management and labor shall act in accordance with the principles of harmony and cooperation for the development of productive enterprises. Conciliation and arbitration of disputes between capital and labor shall be prescribed by law." Since the law does not include an obligation of employers to negotiate with unions, the latter cannot bargain from a position of equality. Such agreements as are negotiated (295 cases in 1996) are almost exclusively limited to reaffirming the rights already granted under the Labor Standards Law. One sign of improvement this year was the creation of the first significant independent white collar unions, which should strengthen the effectiveness of the independent trade union movement. However, new laws to create a proper legal framework for union activity have not yet been able to reach the agenda of the Legislative Yuan.
Environmental Human Rights
Environmental rights, in a small, densely populated, and industrially developed country like Taiwan, have never been a question of luxuries such as quality of life, but rather of the right to life itself. In recent years there have been five major types of problems. First, the question of garbage disposal has not been resolved: there are not enough facilities, and the government, rather than seriously trying to solve the problem, has let waste disposal become an enterprise dominated by the mafia, who frequently dispose of it improperly. Second, site pollution by industry continues go largely unchecked. To cite one notorious example, the state-owned China Petroleum Company recorded no fewer than ten accidents between August and October of this year. The government's response was to buy off the victims, rather than undertake reform of the company's operations. Third, conflicts between investors and communities are acute, due to the fact that the government fails in its duty to adequately examine the environmental impact of major projects. This year, for example, the Bayer company's plan to build a chemical plant was blocked by protesting residents. Fourth, soil erosion caused by indiscriminate development of mountain areas has now become a serious danger to residents, because of increased flooding and landslides; in 1996, such disasters were more frequent and more damaging. Fifth, the fourth nuclear power plant, which popular opposition had delayed two years ago, was finally approved by the Legislative Yuan this year, and construction has begun.