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 60 civil society organizations (listed in the next section) and 57 authors from various relevant fields, who are identified at the beginning of the section on each article. 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 government announced plans to “de-link” migrant workers from the minimum wage in September 2012; see the section on Articles 6 and 7 of the ICESCR).

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Participating Civil Society Organizations
3. Article 1: The Right of Self-Determination
4. Article 2 and Article 3: Non-Discrimination and Equality
5. Article 6 and Article 7: The Right to Work and the Right to Just and Favorable Conditions of Work
6. Article 8: The Rights of Labor
7. Article 11: The Right to Adequate Living Standards
8. Article 12: Right to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health
9. Article 13: Right to Education