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Written contribution for draft GC 38: Current Status of the Practice of Freedom of Association in Taiwan

The United Nations Human Rights Committee decided to develop a General Comment on article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and call for input to provide relevant information to be taken into consideration by the Committee during the preparation of the first draft. This concept note of Taiwan is provide to UN by TAHR. It was oringianly written in Chinese. The English translation was initially generated with the assistance of AI (Gemini 1.5 Flash, Google) and further refined by the author for technical accuracy. Current Status of the Practice of Freedom of Association in Taiwan Although Taiwan has undergone democratization, the…

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Forced consent, OUT: At RightsCon joining forces with digital human rights workers from around the world

Must consumers passively accept privacy policies/terms that permit businesses to share and use their personal information? Is all that patients can do just tolerate their medical and social welfare information being used for research by third parties without individual consent; besides withdrawing after the fact, is there no better way to ensure the right of consent? The International Digital Human Rights Conference RightsCon was held in Taiwan this year and TAHR was selected to organize a roundtable discussion. Together with digital human rights citizen groups and experts from around the world, we collectively identify patterns of behavior that qualify as…

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Condemns Taiwan’s New Execution Rule as Regressive and Inhuman

17 April 2025, Taipei — On March 24, 2025, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government announced a draft amendment to the Regulations for Executing the Death Penalty, marking a severe regression in Taiwan’s commitment to constitutional due process and human rights. The amended Regulations, officially promulgated on April 16 following a brief public consultation period beginning March 24, are set to take effect on April 18. They drastically reduce the bar and eliminate protections that have blocked the wrongful execution of those requesting exceptional legal remedies like a retrial or a constitutional review for decades. Under the revised Regulations, the…

Da fa guan ren xuan quan fou jue hui xian zheng zhao ye du you ze ren

Statement｜All Justice Nominees Rejected: All Parties Are Responsible for Undermining Constitutional Governance!

On the morning of December 24, the Legislative Yuan voted on the Judicial Yuan’s nomination of Justices. All three major political parties employed bloc voting tactics: the Kuomintang (KMT) rejected all seven nominees, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rejected six, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rejected one. As a result, none of the seven Justice nominees achieved the required 57 votes—a majority of the 113 legislators—and were all rejected.  On December 20, when amendments to certain provisions of the Constitutional Court Procedure Act were passed, raising the threshold for Constitutional Court proceedings to require at least ten Justices to…

Lan bai e zhi qiang xing xiu fa

Statement | KMT and TPP’s Reckless Legislative Overhaul Erodes Human Rights and Democracy—TAHR Condemns the Hasty Passage of Three Key Amendments

On December 20, the Legislative Yuan passed amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, the Constitutional Court Procedure Act, and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures. The Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) leveraged their numerical advantage to force these significant legislative changes through hand votes, bypassing substantive democratic procedures and thorough discussion. The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) strongly condemns this reckless maneuver, as these laws have far-reaching implications for human rights. Undermining the Constitutional Court’s Functionality The amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act now requires a minimum of 10 Justices to…

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Taiwan Association for Human Rights 40th Anniversary: Defending Human Rights Without Retreat—Fighting for Freedom and Dignity for All

Forty years ago, freedom and democracy were still farfetched dreams in Taiwan. Our predecessors, risking their liberty and even their lives, laid the foundation for human rights and democracy. Today, we carry on their beliefs and perseverance, facing new challenges with the firm conviction that human rights are the foundation of nation-building. Over the past forty years, human rights awareness has progress despite of threats from the authoritarian regime. However, we are keenly aware that democracy and human rights may regress at any moment of complacency. A healthy democracy requires unfiltered voices. This year, we have delved into key issues…

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The Fundamental Law of Artificial Intelligence is a castle in the air with no foundation

The Fundamental Law of Artificial Intelligence is a castle in the air with no foundation. Since the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the “AI Research and Development Guidelines” in 2019, the National Science Council has announced a draft of the “Artificial Intelligence Basic Law” this year, attempting to catch up with international trends in regulating AI risks and safeguarding fundamental human rights. However, the draft lacks concrete governance paths for AI research,  development and deployment. Furthermore, Article 5 states that the interpretation and application of other laws should  “not hinder the development of new technologies,” which if passed, could…

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【Press Release】Taiwan Listed for the Third Time in the U.S. Forced Labor List; Civil Groups Criticize Government for Turning a Blind Eye and Allowing Fishermen to Become Victims

【Press Release】Taiwan Listed for the Third Time in the U.S. Forced Labor List; Civil Groups Criticize Government for Turning a Blind Eye and Allowing Fishermen to Become Victims   Immediate Press Release Taiwan Listed for the Third Time on the U.S. Forced Labor List Civil Groups Criticize Government for Turning a Blind Eye, Allowing Fishermen to Become Victims On September 5, the U.S. Department of Labor released the latest “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor,” once again including products from Taiwan’s distant-water fishing vessels on the list [1]. This is the third time Taiwan’s distant-water fishing…

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Internship feedback for non native-level Mandarin students

✿Emma worked with us in 2025. This summer I had the opportunity to travel across the world and intern for the Taiwan Association for Human Rights. The experience was entirely unique and fulfilling; despite not being a native speaker of Chinese, everyone in the office welcomed me and incorporated me into their work and events. I built up the skills to translate between Chinese and English, wrote an article for the website in Chinese, attended lectures with speakers from around the world, and participated in protests. I learned about refugee and housing rights, advocacy pathways, and was able to visit other…

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Input for the Independent Expert’s report on AI and international solidarity to be presented to the 3rd Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024

Input for the Independent Expert’s report on AI and international solidarity to be presented to the 3rd Committee of the UN General Assembly in October 2024 submission prepared by Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) TAHR Founded in 1984, Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) is one of the most important and oldest human rights NGOs in Taiwan. TAHR has participated in many important democratic and human rights movements in Taiwan. Website: Contacts: info@tahr.org.tw, kuan@tahr.org.tw 2. Do you have access to procedures to communicate solidarity issues directly to AI Companies or State Institutions? What kind of procedure do you…