Human Rights Day: Has Taiwan "Upgraded" Human Rights Protections or Violations？
United Daily News, December 10, 2020
December 10 is Human Rights Day. President Tsai Ing-wen attended an activity organized by the National Human Rights Commission, Control Yuan, with the body’s president Chen Chu. They both used sign language to reflect the “upgrade” of human rights in Taiwan. President Tsai even indicated on Facebook that she will convey to the international community the insistence and achievements by Taiwan in democracy, freedom, and human rights. These remarks were well-said. But in the four years under her administration, has the protection of human rights really been “upgraded?” Or has the government upgraded its violations of human rights?
There are 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was promulgated on December 10, 1948, in Paris, France. In the UDHR, the principles for human rights protection are broadly and comprehensively defined. However, if we check the record of President Tsai and her administration over the last four years, we may say that the government has violated almost all of the articles enshrined in the UDHR.
Take a few examples. Article 2 of the UDHR talks about "the principle of non-discrimination." But in fighting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, when the children of Taiwanese nationals were all allowed to return to Taiwan from mainland China, the Tsai administration prohibited "little Ming," a child of a Taiwanese citizen and mainland Chinese spouse, from returning to Taiwan to join his family for several months. Again, when a chartered flight from Wuhan to Taipei is not possible, the Tsai administration even prohibited Taiwanese citizens to return from Wuhan. This has violated Article 13 of the UDHR which stipulates the right to freedom of movement: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country."
Articles 7 to 11 of the UDHR talk about the judicial rights. However, what we saw in these four years is that the Control Yuan has been using its impeachment power to intimidate the judges into discriminately prosecuting only citizens who support the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), skipping those who support the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). What is worse, the justices of the Constitutional Court, Judicial Yuan (all appointed by President Tsai), even blatantly violated the principle of presuming innocence and declared constitutional the spirit of "proving oneself innocent" in the Act Governing the Settlement of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and their Affiliate Organizations. This is a blatant downgrading of judicial rights.
As to the violations of Freedom of Speech, cases are numerous. It finds its best expression in shutting down the critical CtiTV News channel. The Tsai administration has been abusing the law by prosecuting the individual, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and political parties with "spreading rumors" and by directing the police to handle the cases. If these are supposedly protection of human rights, then there would be no violation of human rights in the world.
Furthermore, the Tsai administration has amended the Referendum Act, stipulating that a referendum must be decoupled from regular elections and be held at a specific time. As a result, direct civil rights have greatly been restricted. What kind of the protection of human rights is this?!
Recently, the Control Yuan set up the National Committee for Human Rights under its wings and is in the process of drafting its organic law with a view to empowering the Committee to investigate any cases at its discretion. If passed, it will be used to "oversee the people." President Chen Chu of the Control Yuan has often bragged and presented herself as a fighter for human rights. How ironic!
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." On Human Rights Day, we should review carefully what the officials in power have really done for human rights. This is not a day for the politicians to brag and reverse right from wrong. Those who identify with the universal value of human rights should not allow those who blatantly violate human rights to hang on to power!