Preface

On 20 May 2012, Covenants Watch (of which the Taiwan Association for Human Rights serves as secretariat) published the original Chinese edition of “2011 Taiwan Human Rights Report: Shadow Reports on ICCPR and ICESR from NGOs.” The Shadow Report is in response to Taiwan’s initial State Report pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (ICESCR), which the government published on 20 April 2012.

The Shadow Report is a collective effort of a coalition of 63 civil society organizations and 57 authors from various relevant fields (at the beginning of the section on each article, the list of contributors for that section is given). It includes critiques and responses to the State Report, as well as specific examples of human rights violations that were neglected by the State Report, in order to illustrate the extent to which the official version misunderstands or neglects human rights conditions in our country.

From the beginning of the drafting of the State Report, civil society actively participated in and monitored the process. At the same time, civil society groups organized training workshops, study groups, online platforms, editorial meetings, and communication between the Covenants Watch Secretariat and various NGOs. Through these intensive discussions, the human rights issues that the Shadow Report should focus on were identified, and this foundation enabled Covenants Watch to complete the Shadow Report relatively soon after the State Report was published.

Finally, in order to enable the Shadow Report to be submitted to the International Review Committee, a team of six translators, all of whom have extensive experience in the human rights movement in Taiwan over the years, was assembled. In the process of translation, some additional information was added to enhance the clarity, and some updates were made when major developments occurred after the publication of the Chinese edition of the Shadow Report (for example, when the a group of businessmen moved to purchase one of Taiwan’s major media groups in the fall of 2012; see the section on Article 19 of the ICCPR).

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Participating Civil Society Organizations
3. Article 1: The Right to Self-Determination
4. Article 2, Article 3, and Article 26: Non-Discrimination and Equality
5. Article 6: The Right to Life
6. Article 7: The Prohibition of Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
7. Article 8: The Prohibition of Slavery, Servitude, and Forced Labor
8. Article 9: The Right to Liberty and Security of Persons
9. Article 10: The Right of All Persons Deprived of Their Liberty to be Treated Humanely and with Dignity
10. Article 12: Freedom of Movement and Choice of Residence
11. Article 13: Procedures for Expulsion of Foreign Nationals
12. Article 14: The Right to Fair Trial
13. Article 15: Statutory Definition of Crimes and Their Punishment, Prohibition of Retroactive Criminal Offenses or Punishment
14. Article 17: The Right to Privacy
15. Article 19: Freedoms of Opinion, Expression, and the Press, as well as Freedom of Information
16. Article 21: Freedom of Assembly
17. Article 22: Freedom of Association
18. Article 24: The Rights of Children
19. Article 25: The Right of Political Participation
20. Article 27: The Rights of Minorities