President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of April 16 with members of the Executive Board of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. In addition to welcoming the group to Taiwan, the president explained Taiwan's policies on related issues, its implementation of human rights safeguards, and the results of its efforts to gradually phase out the death penalty.
In remarks, the president first stated that the ROC emphasizes human rights and the rule of law. He pointed out that the ROC in 1967 signed two human rights covenants—the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—that were passed by the United Nations (UN) the year earlier. However, the ROC was unable to ratify them after losing its seat in the UN, he said. On December 10 (Human Rights Day) of 2008, the year he took office, the president announced that the ROC would ratify the two covenants as quickly as possible, and ultimately signed the instruments of ratification on May 14 of the following year.
President Ma explained that the UN Secretariat declined to accept the ROC's instruments of ratification due to its lack of representation at the UN. However, on April 22, 2009, lawmakers here passed an enforcement act that incorporates the two covenants into domestic law, he said. This makes them binding upon government agencies and courts here, he commented, adding that this is expected to bring human rights safeguards here in line with global standards.
In addition to the enforcement act, the president said, the ROC has established the Presidential Office Human Rights Consultative Committee on the basis of the UN system. The committee is responsible for reviewing and drafting a national human rights report each year. Furthermore, he remarked, in February of this year 10 international human rights experts came to Taiwan to review the first report, and the experts completed their review on March 1. They provided 81 suggestions, including a call for the recommendations of the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty and other private groups to be included in the national human rights report. Their suggestions would help Taiwan better protect human rights, he said.
The president pointed out that the majority of the public here has strong reservations about abolishing the death penalty, so the government's current policy is to "maintain the death penalty, but reduce its use." President Ma further laid out the following key aspects of current policy: First, no crime currently carries a mandatory death penalty. Second, the government will seek to reduce the number of crimes carrying an optional death penalty. Third, investigations and trials are handled with great care in cases involving the death penalty. Fourth, all avenues of remedy are exhausted before the death penalty is carried out. From 1991 to 2000, he noted, 277 people here were executed, but from 2001 to 2010 the number dropped by 87% to 30, which shows progress toward reduced use of the death penalty, he said.
President Ma then discussed the case of the Hsichih trio, who were placed on death row after receiving a final guilty verdict in 1995. At that time the president was minister of justice and believed that certain aspects of the case needed to be reviewed and clarified. Then-Prosecutor General Chen Han (陳涵) filed extraordinary appeals with the Supreme Court, and the case was eventually retried. After 19 years in court, the three were found not guilty in 2012, the president said. President Ma stressed that during his tenure as minister of justice he surveyed public opinion on whether the death penalty should be abolished. Meanwhile, he was extremely cautious on death penalty cases, twice withholding approval of executions and finally giving the go-ahead only after retrials. In addition, the president said, the Supreme Court has adopted a policy that verdicts in death penalty cases can only be rendered after oral arguments are made, which shows Taiwan is much more cautious with executions than in the past.
President Ma stated that the public is deeply aware that the death penalty is not an absolute deterrent to crime, but people fear that abolishing the death penalty could result in crime going unpunished. Following the recent murder of a 10-year-old boy in Tainan, the president noted, the suspect said that killing only one or two people would not result in the death penalty, which triggered a public outcry for the person to be executed as quickly as possible. This shows, he said, that more communication is needed to reach a consensus on abolishing the death penalty. In the meantime, the step being taken now is to gradually reduce the number of death penalty cases. In other words, he remarked, a more viable method is to first reduce the number of legal provisions calling for the death penalty, handle capital cases with great caution, and ensure that all avenues of remedy are exhausted.
The delegation from the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty included President Florence Bellivier, Vice President Elizabeth A. Zitrin, and Vice President Raphael Chenuil–Hazan. Joining the group was Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty Chairperson Hei-Yuan Chiu (瞿海源). The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Administrative Vice Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Chang Ji-ping (張濟平).