President Ma Ying-jeou met with Canadian human rights activists William Black (a human rights scholar and professor emeritus from the University of British Columbia) and Magda Seydegart (a founding partner of South House Exchange) at the Presidential Office on the afternoon of December 3. The president and the visitors exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues related to the current state of human rights in Taiwan.
The president noted that the visitors came to Taiwan to observe the elections for special municipality mayors over the preceding weekend, adding that elections are an extremely important aspect of human rights. While the elections were marred by an unfortunate shooting incident on the eve of the polls, the energy seen in the run-up to the elections showed the increasing maturity of Taiwan's democracy, said the president. He praised the efficiency and credibility of election-related work, commenting that the polls were open for eight hours on the day of the election and the results were known in just a little over three hours after the close of polling.
President Ma stated that the ROC in 1967 signed the United Nations' (UN) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but in 1971 this country lost its representation in the UN and was unable to complete the ratification process. He pointed out that efforts were made last year to resume ratification procedures and the Legislative Yuan approved the two documents, after which he signed their instruments of ratification. The president said that the ROC has been unable to deposit the instruments of ratification with the UN Secretariat, so they are not deemed as having taken effect. Taiwan has responded by enacting an "enforcement act" that incorporates the two covenants into domestic law.
The enforcement act, he explained, entered into force on December 10 of last year. At that time, he asked all administrative agencies to review all laws and regulations under their purview to ensure that they do not contravene either of the two covenants. Where laws or regulations do conflict with the covenants, the covenants shall take precedence, he said, and the laws or regulations must be amended. This work is still being carried out. The president said that the public can tell that the government is moving seriously to ensure that the human rights protections in Taiwan are up to standards of the international community.
President Ma remarked that each year on International Human Rights Day the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, which was established with government support in 2003, bestows the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award on an individual who has made a contribution to human rights and democracy in Asia. The award comes with a cash prize of US$100,000. The president said that the award seeks to promote human rights protections, and to enhance Taiwan's role in the effort.
President Ma also reiterated that the Presidential Office will establish a Human Rights Consultative Committee on December 10 of this year. Over the coming year, this commission will review and discuss the status of human rights here based on human rights reports co-issued by private organizations and the commission, he said.
Mr. Black and Ms. Seydegart were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the afternoon by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ssu-Tsun Shen to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu.