President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of November 2 at the Presidential Office with foreign representatives, along with experts and scholars, who have traveled to Taiwan to attend the 2009 International Forum on Legal Aid. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), extended a warm welcome to them on their visit here.
The president noted that participants at the forum discussed and exchanged experiences on three major topics – the rights of non-nationals and legal aid; criminal justice, human rights, and legal aid; and poverty, debt, and legal aid. In addition, concrete directions for future work with regards to these topics were outlined in an effort to provide more efficient and quality legal services to underprivileged groups, which will help to enhance the protection of human rights, he said.
The president said that the ROC (Taiwan) established a legal aid system in 1973. In the year prior, Yao Chia-wen, a local lawyer, sponsored by the Asia Foundation to go to the University of California in Berkeley and carry out dedicated research in the area of legal aid. Upon his return to Taiwan, Yao and a number of lawyers established the Taipei Legal Aid Center. Former Control Yuan member Frank J. N. Liao, also a lawyer, was invited to serve as the director of the organization. This marked the formal creation of a private legal aid body here, the president explained. In 1998, the Taipei Bar Association, the Judicial Reform Foundation, and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights formed a task force to promote the drafting of the Legal Aid Act. In 2002, the Legislative Yuan finally passed the legislation and on July 1, 2004, the Legal Aid Foundation was formally established. This creation of this organization marked an important milestone in the history of legal aid here, the president said.
President Ma said that he issued a statement regarding human rights during his campaign for president, which noted that every person should receive a dignified trial and should have the right to speak his or her native language in court. The president remarked that he personally has been involved in or been the subject of criminal litigation. As a result, he said he puts great emphasis on the protection of human rights and legal aid in the process of questioning by prosecutors.
The president furthermore said that he is promoting a system in which people are questioned by prosecutors the same way they are in a court of law, with a computer screen placed in front of the suspect so that the latter can see a record of the proceedings. After over a year of work, the Justice Ministry has decided to acquire over 200 computers for this purpose. In the future, suspects (defendants) will be able to clearly see a record of their interactions with judges and prosecutors. Upon verifying the record, suspects (defendants) will have a chance either to sign their names to it, or to refuse. This will be of great assistance in assuring the accuracy of records, he said.
The president commended the work of the Legal Aid Foundation, saying that it has played an important role in assisting the public with regards to issues involving credit card debt. President Ma said that on May 14 in his capacity as president he signed instruments of ratification for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. At the same time, the content of these covenants was made a part of domestic law. In addition, he said, he asked the Justice Ministry to carry out a thorough review of domestic laws within two years and amend any laws that run counter to the content of the two covenants. This will boost the standard of human rights protection for the people of Taiwan and will put the ROC among the leading nations of the world in protection of human rights, he said.
The president expressed his hopes that Taiwan's legal services community will be able to maintain close contact with legal aid agencies in countries throughout the world, jointly working to provide legal aid services to the underprivileged. This will help to uphold justice and ensure that human rights are protected, he said.