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Ma pledges to protect
human rights
HISTORY LESSONS: The president stressed the
efforts of his administration at promoting human rights by recognizing past
mistakes in the 228 Massacre and the White Terror era
By Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pledged to continue to pay close attention to human
rights issues in China and to protect human rights in Taiwan, while stressing
the nation’s goal of eliminating capital punishment, as 10 human rights experts
arrived yesterday to review the government’s human rights report.
The Ma administration invited the experts to review English and Chinese versions
of its first national human rights report, which was published last year. The
Ministry of Justice’s continued use of the death penalty and former president
Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) medical parole will be on the agenda.
“The publication of a national human rights report demonstrates the government’s
determination to promote and protect human rights, and we hope the experts will
help us improve human rights and connect us with international human rights
mechanisms,” Ma said yesterday in welcoming the experts at Howard Civil Service
International House in Taipei.
The president said that his administration frequently voiced its concerns about
human rights developments in China — including its annual remarks on the
Tiananmen Square Massacre and calls for the release of Chinese dissidents.
He also stressed the government’s efforts in promoting human rights in Taiwan by
recognizing past mistakes in the 228 Massacre and the White Terror era, and
seeking reconciliation with victims’ families.
The 10 experts are: Nisuke Ando from Japan, Jerome Cohen from the US, Shanthi
Dairiam from Malaysia, Pakistan’s Asma Jahangir, Austria’s Manfred Nowak,
Australia’s Philip Alston, Theodoor Cornelis van Boven from the Netherlands,
Virginia Bonoan-Dandan from the Philippines, Germany’s Eibe Riedel and Shin
Hei-soo from South Korea.
Nowak, a law professor, wrote a letter to the Presidential Office calling for
the ministry to halt executions in December last year.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said the government intended to abolish
capital punishment in the future, but would focus on reducing the number of
death sentences for now.
Cohen has expressed concerns about Chen’s health after he visited the former
president at Taipei Veterans General Hospital last year.
The Presidential Office said the experts would focus on the content of the
report. However, the death penalty issue and Chen’s medical parole are also
expected to be discussed during their trip.
The report details the nation’s progress in implementing the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that Ma signed in 2009, and showcases the
government’s efforts to protect human rights in different areas, including
gender equality, individual freedoms, social welfare and the judicial system.
The review committee will hold separate conferences with representatives of
various non-governmental organizations and with government representatives today
and tomorrow.
The review committee will hold a closed-door meeting on Thursday to form its
conclusions regarding the nation’s human rights situation and present their
conclusions on Friday, the ministry said.
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