When meeting with Siobhan Ni Chulachain, Vice Chairwoman of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on June 14 at the Office of the President, President Chen Shui-bian said that although no consensus has been reached yet over complete abolishment of death penalty in Taiwan, his administration is nonetheless moving toward replacing mandatory death penalties with discretionary ones.
The president also told his guest that in Taiwan the number of death sentences and executions had dropped since he took office. He said that since 2000 only 17 people had been executed, and this year, there had been none.
This proper measure, he believed, would allow the 23 million people of Taiwan to arrive at a better understanding of death penalty and, finally, reach a consensus over total abolishing.
In response to Ms. Ni Chulachain's urgency that Taiwan should adopt a local version of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the president said he was convinced that the Legislative Yuan would fully support this proposal.
This was the vice chairwoman's second visit to the Office of the President. In the meeting, Secretary-General to the President Mark Chen was also present.