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June 4th is a test of our belief in democracy and human rights

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…

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Ma, CCA chief “Killing human rights”

Ma, CCA chief ‘Killing human rights’ Protesters demand preservation of Chingmei martial law courtroom and prison memorial By Dennis EngbarthTaiwan News, Staff ReporterPage 42009-04-30 12:28 AM Over 50 former political prisoners and human rights activists demanded that Council of Cultural Affairs chairperson Huang Pi-twan resign for “wiping out history” and “murdering human rights” in a rally outside the CCA offices in Taipei City yesterday afternoon. The protest, which included representatives of the 1950s White Terror Victims Association, the Association of Concern for Taiwan Political Victims, the Association of Elderly Political Victims, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Mainlander Taiwanese…

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EDITORIAL: An exercise in wasting time

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.

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Activists pan changes to Assembly and Parade Act

Activists pan changes to Assembly and Parade Act By Shelley HuangSTAFF REPORTERTuesday, 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.

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KMT tosses gauntlet at Taiwan human rights

KMT tosses gauntlet at Taiwan human rights Taiwan News, Staff WriterPage 62009-04-28 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…

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Who will watch the watchers?

By Chiu E-ling and Liu Ching-yi 邱伊翎，劉靜怡 Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009, Page 8, Taipei Times Recent newspaper reports have revealed that the National Police Agency plans to build “electronic city walls” throughout Taiwan by installing surveillance cameras nationwide over the next five years. The Ministry of the Interior has also launched a NT$1 billion (US$29.5 million) project to integrate surveillance camera systems, and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced on April 8 that his government would spend NT$1.6 billion to install 13,000 “intelligent,” high-performance cameras in the city.

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Council draws fire over human rights park plan

Council draws fire over human rights park plan By Loa Iok-sin and Rich ChangSTAFF REPORTERSSaturday, Apr 18, 2009, Page 1 “It is ridiculous that the Ma government wants to delete this part of history.”— Yao Chia-wen, former Examination Yuan president Civic groups, lawmakers and former political prisoners yesterday attacked the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) for turning the site of a former military detention center used to jail political dissidents into a cultural park to house art and performance groups. Before becoming the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial (台灣人權景美園區), Taipei’s Jingmei military detention center was used as both a place to…

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The First Step toward International Human Rights Standards

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…

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Rights groups hail ratification of UN pacts

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,…

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A Mission That Doesn’t Alter

From 1999 to 2006, from an Alliance for the Promotion of a NHRC to nothing, Taiwanese people and civil society witnessed the fail of one promising party which vowed to set up a National Human Rights Commission(NHRC). The Democratic Progressive Party turned out to be feeble when faced with criticism and self-contradictory when asked to follow the Paris Principles. The first party alteration didn’t seem to move human rights work as much forward as everyone expected. And the 2008 newly elected party, Chinese National Party (KMT), doesn’t seem to realize that human rights standards don’t change with the transition of…