Taiwan Human Rights Report 1997

I. Realization of Environment Impact Assessment Law
　The Environmental Impact Assessment Statute, which has major implications for the living environment of Taiwan's people, was passed by the Legislative Yuan on December 30, 1994. However, this statute, along with the other key laws concerning environmental protection such as the "Statute on Conservation and Utilization of Slopeland," has not been respected or effectively implemented to this day. Noted cases of implementation failure include: 1) the 600 percent expansion of production capacity by the Taiwan Cement Corp. in its Hualien factory, an expansion whose environmental impact was never assessed; 2) the reduction of the breadth of the separation canal at the sixth naphtha cracker being built by the Formosa Plastics Corp in Mailiao, Yunlin County, from 500 meters to 100 meters, a plan which was approved by government agencies on the basis of a guarantee by President Lee Teng-hui, disregarding all attempts by environmental groups to petition for its reversal; and 3) numerous cases of illegal occupation and development of public lands by golf courses, in which the perpetrators were ultimately all acquitted.

　At present, two representative lawsuits are now in progress. The first, a suit filed under the National Compensation Act by residents of the Minsheng Mansions in Taipei City for damages from radioactive steel in their homes, has resulted in a victory in the first trial for the plaintiffs, in a verdict delivered in October. The second suit, regarding the case of the Kuanhsi Machinery Technology Special Development Zone in Hsinchu County was raised by the Control Yuan.

　The Kuanhsi case involves a clear violation of law. The types of mildly sloped land that can be developed (namely class one and class two land) account for only two percent, while land with a slope of over 30 degrees upon which development is restricted or prohibited (protected slopeland) accounts for 98 percent of the proposed development zone. However, the environmental impact assessment official of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) apparently failed to note this fact in his preliminary assessment. With such a clear breach of responsibility, the environmental impact assessment official should also be sued for failing to block this project.

II. The Problem of Waste Materials Disposal
　In May, a "garbage war" erupted in the Chungli district of Taoyuan County. Garbage in Chungli City went uncollected for several weeks, creating grave environmental and sanitation problems and extreme inconvenience to the daily lives of residents. An opinion poll conducted by the Global Views monthly indicated that residents in all 21 cities and counties in Taiwan placed the garbage problem at the top of the list of their worries about the environment. As the streets of Chungli City were filling with piles of garbage in May, the EPA also ordered the closing of dump sites near rivers or streams by the end of the month, sparking additional "garbage wars" in Chiayi City, Pingtung City and other areas. The reason why the garbage problem could worsen to this grave degree is the result of the government's long-term disregard of the issues of garbage reduction and treatment.

　The situation for the treatment of waste dirt from public works projects and waste material from enterprises (including hospitals) is just no better than for household garbage. For example, there are reports that huge volumes of waste dirt from Taipei city rapid transit system construction project are simply dumped into the Yungho district of neighboring Taipei County. This demonstrates the fact that the lack of long-term and comprehensive planning among government authorities is the source of the grave damage to the living environment.

III. Environmental Rights Fail to Enter the Constitution
　During the third phase of constitutional amendments in June and July of this year, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), the Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP), the League of Welfare Organizations for the Disabled, the League of Welfare Improvement for Older People, and other social movement organizations together with the representative of the Taiwan Green Party in the National Assembly formed an "Alliance for the Incorporation of Social Rights into the Constitution" (社會權入憲推動聯盟). The alliance pushed for the incorporation of "environmental rights," including a nuclear-free clause, into the Constitution and made several visits to the National Assembly to petition representatives to support these proposed amendments.

　In addition, the "Civil Alliance for the Monitoring of Constitutional Amendment" (民間監督憲改聯盟) was organized by the TAUP, the Cheng She (澄社), TEPU, the Humanistic Education Foundation, the Feminist Studies Society (女性學學會) and the Taiwan Green Party to advocate the adoption of the power of plebiscite into the Constitution. The Alliance held a major march and rally in Taipei on July 13 to promote this objective.

　Unfortunately, the proposals to incorporate environmental rights and the power of plebiscite into the Constitution were both defeated. The fact that the efforts by these two alliances to ensure environmental rights and expand the rights of popular participation in public affairs ultimately were in vain is one of the most disappointing developments of the past year.

IV. Policy Failures Spark Repeated Disasters
　On August 18, the onslaught of Typhoon Winnie triggered the collapse of the earthwall protecting the Lincoln Estates development in the Taipei City suburb of Hsichih, crushing the bottom two floors of the adjacent five-story apartment complex. This incident, which took the lives of 28 residents, exposed the grossly inadequate safety of buildings constructed on the slopes of Taiwan's mountains and the grave damage that has been inflicted on Taiwan's water and land resources. On August 29, Typhoon Amber struck northern Taiwan, triggering a landslide at Teh-hsing East Road in Taipei City's Shihlin District and crushing homes with earth and rock and taking several lives, while Taipei City's Neihu District also experienced flooding. Taipei City Mayor Chen Shui-bian acknowledged the government's fault, which permitted application of the National Compensation Act.

　In the final analysis, the origin of these incidents lies in the excessive development of residential projects on protected slopeland and the fact that inadequate attention was paid to land and water conservation in the course of these construction projects. Responsible agencies such as the EPA, the Construction and Planning Administration (CPA) of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and county and city governments originally took "old second class buildings" as beyond their legal authority and dealt with them perfunctorily.( The term "old second class constructions" (老丙建) refers to slopeland which were developed before 1983 and thus exempt from the requirement to apply for development permits under the slopeland development regulation; they later were reclassified as second class construction land. These "old second class constructions" slopeland development projects did not need to pass through strict assessment or review of their water and soil preservation plans. Following their excessive development, they are now a latent safety hazard. At present in Taiwan, "old second class construction land" exceeds 300 hectares of slopeland.) However, Article 28 of the statute on environmental impact assessments gives the law retroactive effect, so it can naturally be applied to "old second class" projects.

V. Public Safety Neglected
　In April, a leak of petroleum products from the Taoyuan refinery of the state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corporation polluted thousands of hectares of farmland. On September 13, a leak during construction work on an underground natural gas pipeline in the Chienchen District of Kaohsiung City touched off a major explosion that killed several residents. These examples indicate that the failure of government officials to fulfill their responsibility not only results in harm to the environmental rights of the citizenry, but also directly threatens their very lives and property.

VI. The People's Right to Access to Water Has Been Eroded
　Water is the source of life and the right of people to have close access to water is an inalienable human right. However, environmental pollution and improper development has resulted in the complete revocation and destruction of the right of the Taiwan people to enjoy close access to water.

　First mention goes to the pollution of rivers and streams. In 1996, the EPA published a yearbook on monitoring water quality in Taiwan which clearly indicated that the Water Quality Attainment Index for country's major rivers and streams was only 18 percent (a low rating indicates severe pollution)-the lowest such rating in six years.( The Water Quality Attainment Index (水質達成) refers to the degree to which water quality has attained the standards set in the environmental protection statute.) Moreover, 87 percent of the length of the Er-Jen River in Kaohsiung County showed a grave degree of pollution, while 72 percent of the of the drainage area for the Peikang River in Yunlin County showed severe pollution. In addition, due to improper national land planning, a considerable number of industrial zones have been developed on Taiwan's west coast and pressure is mounting on the island's east coast to follow suit. At present, controversial projects now under consideration by the EPA include the Pinnan Coastal Industrial Zone in Chiku Township, Tainan County and a major development project Hualien County on the east coast which would include a special cement industry zone and a thermal power plant. Both proposed projects are located in scenic coastal areas, while the Chiku project would threaten the breeding grounds of an extremely endangered species of waterfowl and adjacent fishing resources, both of which are objects of concern by international environmentalists.

　Naturally, these development projects involve not only water rights but many other environmental issues including reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and improper energy policy, which should be dealt with through passage of a statute allowing powers of referendum to guarantee the people's rights of participation in public policy making.

VII. Progress of the Anti-Nuclear Power Movement 　Since nuclear power is unsafe, uneconomical and unclean, and as the problem of nuclear waste treatment cannot be solved with existing technology, the anti-nuclear power movement continues to be a major focus of the international environmental protection movement. During the past 10 years, the anti-nuclear power movement has been the most enduring and most influential of all of Taiwan's environmental movements. In 1997, the most important activities of Taiwan's anti-nuclear movement, in addition to over 10 demonstrations in Kungliao Township in Taipei County, where the state-owned Taipower Co. intends to build the island's fourth nuclear power plant, included the following:

(1) On September 21, the Kungliao Fishermen's Association, the Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Salvation Association, TEPA and the Green Party together sponsored an "anti-nuclear anti-landing and sea blockade exercise" to demonstrate the resolution and power of local fishermen to cut off the supply line to the fourth nuclear power project site.

(2) From September 22 to October 26, the Association for A Referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant conducted the "Nuclear Four Referendum, Bitter March Around Taiwan" activity during which participants walked around the island passing out flyers and making preparations for a referendum on the fourth nuclear power plant. The activity concluded with the national anti-nuclear march in Taipei City on October 26.

(3) Anti-nuclear legislators succeeded in securing passage of a resolution to freeze and eliminate the budget for the fourth nuclear power plant in meetings of the budget committee of the Legislative Yuan October 22 and in the first reading before the full Legislative Yuan November 5. However, on November 13 during the second reading of the resolution, the chairman of the joint committee session of the legislature declared that the joint session had overreached its authority and decided not to deal with the resolution. This decision sparked protests and led to his declaration of the end of the session. Anti-nuclear forces planned to raise the issue again when the legislature reconvened in early December after county and city mayoral elections. If the anti-nuclear resolution is successful, it could spark a domino effect and lead to the passage of bills that would permit plebiscites and thus possibly a plebiscite on the Nuclear Four project, a result that would have enormous significance in raising the level of popular participation in public policy making.

VIII. Constitutional Court, in a Case Involving Environmental Activists, to Debate the Constitutionality of the Parade and Assembly Law
　Two former TEPU chairmen, namely National Taiwan University Professor Kao Cheng-yan and NTU Professor Chang Kuo-lung, were separately arrested and detained by police on May 9 and May 28, respectively, and later released on bail by the Taipei District prosecutors' office. This was not the first arrest for Prof. Kao: he was previously arrested and convicted under the Parade and Assembly Law in connection with the October 9, 1993 "Taipei County and City Waste Soil War Petition Case" (台北縣市廢土大戰請願案) demonstration

　On September 12, 1995, Professor Kao and others petitioned the Council of Grand Justices for an interpretation on whether the Parade and Assembly violates the constitution's mandate that "the people have the rights of freedom of assembly and association." The Council of Grand Justices decided to accept the petition for an interpretation on November 29, 1995, and on October 23, 1997 notified Kao that a debate in the constitutional court was scheduled on the issue for December 5, 1997. This will be only the third time since the establishment of the Council of Grand Justices that it has held a constitutional court debate. The result of the interpretation will affect the freedom of assembly and demonstration and freedom of expression for all Taiwanese people and will have profound implications for human rights guarantees.

《Return to Contents》 《Return to TAHR Home Page》