President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of January 15 with Dr. Kim Jung Sook, President of the International Council of Women (ICW). In addition to briefing Dr. Kim on the government's achievements and efforts to safeguard women's rights and implement gender equality, President Ma also reiterated that the ROC has long called on Japan to apologize for the comfort women issue, pay compensation, and provide justice and dignity to the victims.
In remarks, President Ma noted that Dr. Kim has long fought for women's rights and served three terms as a member of the Korean National Assembly. Since 2009 she has also served two consecutive terms as president of the Korean Women's Associations United; she was previously president of the Federation of Asia-Pacific Women's Associations, and served as an ICW board member before her election in May 2015 as ICW president. President Ma noted that Dr. Kim has clearly become an important international spokesperson on women's rights issues.
Commenting on successes achieved by the ROC in its efforts to promote gender equality and women's rights, President Ma pointed out that in 2011 Taiwan's legislature enacted the Enforcement Act for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which was modeled after the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1979. Although the ROC lost its representation in the UN in 1971, it has nevertheless passed the aforementioned Enforcement Act to incorporate the CEDAW into domestic law, thereby safeguarding the rights of women.
President Ma mentioned that Dr. Kim previously visited Taiwan as an ICW board member in 2010 and exchanged views with women's group representatives from Taiwan and around the world regarding, among other issues, the Taiwan government's active promotion of CEDAW. Dr. Kim has also called on many occasions for the Korean government to emulate Taiwan by setting aside a minimum number of seats for women in electing the national legislature. Dr. Kim's actions, he said, have greatly helped protect women's right to take part in politics.
President Ma stated that the ROC in 2009 ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and in 2014 announced the entry into force of the Enforcement Act of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the Act to Implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Then in 2015 the government promulgated the Act to Implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption. In all, the ROC government has now incorporated six UN covenants into domestic law to harmonize human rights legislation here with international standards.
In terms of gender equality, using the UN's definition and statistical methodology, said the president, Taiwan ranks among the world's top five countries in recent years. In the area of political participation, women account for 38% of the Examination Yuan ministers without portfolio, 50% of all Control Yuan members, and 33% of all members of the Legislative Yuan. Outstanding examples include Control Yuan President Chang Po-ya (張博雅) and Legislative Yuan Vice President Hung Hsiu-Chu (洪秀柱), both of whom have blazed a political trail well worthy of emulation.
Discussing the prevention of child prostitution, President Ma pointed out that during his stint as minister of justice (1993-1996) he successfully pushed for enactment of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act, which last year was renamed the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act. The president further pointed out that, during the eight-year administration of his predecessor, law enforcement authorities dealt with sexual exploitation cases involving an average of 518 children per year, whereas the average number of victims during the seven years of his administration has gone down to 383, so steady progress is being made.
President Ma pointed out that when he attended the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award ceremony in 2012 he had the opportunity to meet Ms. Maureen Crombie, then chairperson of ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes). Ms. Crombie had high praise for Taiwan's success in its efforts to prevent child prostitution, he said.
Commenting on the topic of comfort women, which has been the subject of much discussion recently in Taiwan, President Ma stated that it has been a matter of concern to him for 20 years. The recently deceased former comfort woman Cheng Chen Tao (鄭陳桃), he said, "was just one year younger than my late mother, and I always looked at her as family every time we met." She had hoped all her life for an apology from the government of Japan, and it is unfortunate that she passed on without getting it, he added.
Noting that the roughly 1,200 Taiwanese comfort women were fewer in number than their Korean counterparts, President Ma further stated that it is a matter not of numbers, but of humanity and human rights. The Taiwanese and Korean women forced into sexual slavery were actually citizens of Japan at the time. "A nation," he said, "cannot treat its women like that."
Also included among the visitors was Ha Yong Ae, a professor at Korea's Kyung Hee University.