On the morning of December 10, President Ma Ying-jeou attended the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy's 2015 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award ceremony, where he personally presented the award to Shakti Samuha, an organization in Nepal established and run by survivors of trafficking. The award was accepted by Sunita Danuwar, the organization's founder and president. President Ma also spoke on the ROC government's efforts and achievements in safeguarding democracy and human rights.
In remarks, President Ma commented that this was the eighth time he has attended this award ceremony since taking office in 2008, which shows the great importance that the ROC government attaches to democracy and human rights, and its high regard for the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award. Noting that December 10 is Human Rights Day throughout the world, the president stated that the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy confers its Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award each year on this day, which demonstrates that the ROC is a staunch defender of the universal values of democracy and human rights. Even more important, he said, is the fact that the ROC supports democracy and human rights not just in theory, but with concrete action.
President Ma noted that Sunita Danuwar was herself once the victim of human trafficking, but has since become an activist who fights for women's rights. Thanks to her efforts, Shakti Samuha in 2013 received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is regarded as the "Asian Nobel Prize." Since its founding, Shakti Samuha has worked to provide protection and other services to victims of human trafficking, and has established Adolescent Girls Groups in Nepal to get their message out. Today the scope of the organization's services has expanded to cover the entire nation.
Commenting on measures taken by the ROC to defend human rights, President Ma pointed out that he began working actively in 2009 to get the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights incorporated into domestic law. The national legislature approved those two covenants on March 31 of that year, and passed an act to implement them on April 22. Then on May 14 the president signed the instruments of ratification and had them forwarded for deposit with the United Nations (UN) Secretariat. Although it did not accept those instruments, passage of the act to implement those covenants in Taiwan means that they are now incorporated into domestic law, and serve as a legal basis for the actions of our administrative and judicial organs. Turning to the subject of protections for women's rights, the president noted that the government on June 8, 2011 promulgated the Enforcement Act for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which entered into force on January 1, 2012. Our national legislature in 2014 also passed the Implementation Act of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which formally entered into force on November 20 of that same year. These legal measures show the international community that, although it is not a member of the UN, the ROC is every bit as committed to defending human rights as other countries.
President Ma mentioned that as minister of justice from 1993 to 1996 he was very concerned about child prostitution and human trafficking. The national legislature passed the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act in 1995, which it amended and renamed the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act on February 4, 2015. In line with the requirements of that act [Article 6], local authorities in every special municipality, city, and county throughout Taiwan have established care centers to provide those in need with information and someone to contact. Under the eight-year administration of his predecessor, said the president, a total of 4,144 children and youth were victims of sexual exploitation (an average of 518 victims per year), while during his seven years in office there were only 2,682 such victims (or an average of 383 victims per year, down by 26% from the previous administration).
President Ma mentioned that at the 2012 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award ceremony he met with Chairperson Maureen Crombie of ECPAT International, which won the award that year. ("ECPAT" stands for "End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography & Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes.") During their chat, said the president, Ms. Crombie had high praise for the effective law enforcement practices and other measures that Taiwan has taken to end child prostitution.
Commenting on efforts made by our government in recent years to fight human trafficking, President Ma stated that since 2010 Taiwan has been listed six years in a row as a Tier 1 country (the highest ranking) by the United States in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, a sign of strong international recognition of Taiwan's efforts. Human trafficking is a cross-border crime, and thus cannot be effectively prevented without international cooperation. The president stressed that the problem of human trafficking is a disgrace for all of human civilization, and that the ROC will not stand idly by and allow it to happen. Looking to the future, the ROC will continue cooperating with the rest of the world in a coordinated campaign to destroy the crime syndicates involved and reduce the incidence of human trafficking.