On the morning of October 25, President Ma Ying-jeou attended the opening ceremonies of the 2014 International Forum on Legal Aid (IFLA), which was held at the Howard Civil Service International House in Taipei. In addition to recognizing the many contributions of the Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) to legal aid work, the president also spoke about the government's achievements in protecting human rights.
In remarks, President Ma, on behalf of the government of the ROC, welcomed the representatives of legal aid organizations, experts, and scholars from 15 nations to Taiwan to participate in the conference. He remarked that globalization has created more frequent interaction within the world community, so cross-border cooperation is becoming increasingly important. The president pointed to the example last year of the Guang Da Xing No. 28 fishing boat incident, in which a Philippine Coast Guard vessel fired upon a Taiwanese fishing boat in overlapping economic waters, damaging the boat and killing a Taiwanese fisherman. President Ma said that the criminal portion of this case is still being litigated in the Philippines, which is requiring legal cooperation and mutual assistance involving both sides. He commented that when the second IFLA forum was held in 2009, participants began discussing methods and concepts regarding international cooperation, so we can see that cross-border cooperation is an inevitable trend in legal aid work.
President Ma explained that Taiwan began promoting legal aid work 40 years ago and in 2004 formally enacted the Legal Aids Act. In April of that year, the LAF was founded, he said, noting that the government provided a budget for the organization so that assistance could be provided to people in need of legal aid. The people of Taiwan have been seriously affected by two major crises over the past 10 years. The first, remarked the president, was an explosion of credit card and cash card debt, and the second was an economic recession triggered by the global financial tsunami. The LAF, President Ma stated, has provided assistance to the underprivileged in over 720,000 legal aid cases, and has also launched special programs to meet specific needs. In 2008, for example, the foundation launched its legal aid program for consumer debt clearance, in 2009 it introduced an expanded legal consulting program, and in 2012 it commenced its program to ensure attorney presence for indigenous persons being questioned by prosecutors or police. All of these special programs have helped to uphold the people's right to institute legal proceedings as guaranteed under the Constitution, as well as the right to counsel that is provided in Western society, remarked the president.
As for Taiwan's work in promoting the protection of human rights, President Ma stated, in 2009 Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed two United Nations (UN) human rights covenants—the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The president added that he signed the instruments of ratification for these two covenants in his capacity as president and the signed documents were forwarded to the UN Secretariat. However, as the ROC had lost its UN seat in 1971, the documents were not accepted, he said. Nonetheless, the legislature has passed an enforcement law for the two covenants, incorporating them into domestic law, he stated. Furthermore, in 2011 Taiwan passed an enforcement law for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. All of these measures, the president said, highlight the nation's active protection of human rights.
President Ma stated that the government, in accordance with the provisions of the two UN human rights covenants, in 2012 issued its first National Human Rights Report, then invited 10 international human rights experts to Taiwan to review the report. At the same time, the government also asked domestic human rights groups to also take part in the review. Everyone involved provided critiques and suggestions to assist the government in its work to protect human rights, and developments in this regard have been applauded by experts from abroad. In addition, he noted, the government has adopted reforms in response to the 82 suggestions provided by the human rights experts. President Ma pledged that the government will continue working to protect human rights, thereby enhancing the wellbeing of the public.