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As the second State Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be subjected to the international review, this report aspires to present the plight of persons with disabilities and the pleas of civil society organizations, reflect upon the current circumstances and crux of disability rights in Taiwan, and concretely identify inadequacies in policies and legal norms of the government by contrasting against the State Report which was published by the State on

December 1, 2020. Moreover, on the basis of the Concluding Observations and Recommendations of the initial review of the CRPD in 2017, this report will also provide a diagnosis on the unadorned aspects of the government in respecting, protecting and realizing the rights of persons with disabilities, between the two international reviews.

Problem awareness

This report presents practical issues in an article-by-article manner in accordance with the provisions of the Convention and proposes corresponding policy recommendations; among all paragraphs of this report, the following three problematcis were consistently addressed:

1. Charity/biomedical model remained the predominant framework adopted by the government on conceptualizing disabilities: the government has yet to propose equality-oriented policies based on the rights-based model of disability, augment the existing restrictive definition of disability, or administer mechanisms to support the self-choice, decision-making and responsibility of persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the principle of participation of persons with disabilities has yet to be implemented, and the substantive equality for persons with disabilities has not been vigorously promoted.
2. The government has yet to positively eliminate barriers induced by environmental factors: barriers have persisted at all levels of physical space, information, laws, policies, and socio-economic conditions, which have obstructed persons with disabilities to enjoy access to justice, personal liberty, independent living, expression of opinions, accessing education, work, as well as social and cultural participation on an equal basis.
3. Persisted discrimination against persons with disabilities: discriminatory provisions persisted in the laws and regulations of the State, which hindered persons with disabilities from equal protection and benefits of the law. Meanwhile, with the absence of an explicit legal definition of discrimination, the failure to incorporate reasonable accommodation provisions into laws and regulations, and the inadequacy of awareness-raising efforts, persons with disabilities have been made to endure discrimination and unequal treatment.

Co-authoring groups

Covenants Watch served as the coordinating and editing platform of this report, which was jointly submitted by 27 local civil society organizations of Taiwan. More than half of the co-authoring member groups are disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs), with others being veteran human rights organizations engaged in comprehensive human rights issues, judicial reform, promotion of the abolition of the death penalty, prison reform, legal aid, and economic and social rights promotion. , Of the 27 organizations, 13 groups co-authored the 2017 report, with the other 14 consisting of late-partnered DPOs and human rights organizations. The consistent participation and engagement of persons with disabilities gradually helped to increase the momentum of self-advocacy for persons with disabilities and had enabled general human rights organizations to acquire a more authentic understanding of disability issues and disability rights advocacy through collaboration. For detailed information on participating organizations, please refer to the “Introduction of Participating NGOs” section of this report.

Working methods

The objective of Covenants Watch is to promote the ratification of the core human rights instruments of the UN and monitor their implementation. Based on past experience organizing civil society organizations to jointly submit parallel reports, as well as the mandate of advocating and monitoring the implementation of the 2017 Concluding Observations and Recommendations, Covenants Watch initiated consultation on the willingness of co-authoring a new parallel report in October 2020; and convened work meetings anticipating the publication of the State Report in December to establish the report’s stylistic rules, layout, and to divide editing work accordingly. The agreed upon purpose of the report was, “based on the consensus of the participating organizations, presenting the actual situation regarding disability issues and policy recommendations, to enable the international review committee to substantially appreciate the human rights predicaments of persons with disabilities in Taiwan” by participating groups.

The formulation method and division of labor for this report are as follows: issues were clustered into working groups by subject matter and relevance in accordance with the provisions of the Convention and Concluding Observations and Recommendations. Leaders of each working group, or, the editor-in-charge, convenes meetings and discussions for formulating consensus, conducts preliminary editing on the drafts submitted by individual organizations, and refers the draft to executive editors to consolidate the drafts. Further, leaders confirm the cross-references between articles and revise the content to ensure coherence. In addition to the long-standing requirement of consensus among participating groups, this report also adopted the interview method utilized in the formulation of the 2020 ICCPR and ICESCR Parallel Report to ensure persons with disabilities are appropriately supported to autonomously express their positions. It is worth mentioning that more than half of the posts of the eight working group leaders are voluntarily taken by DPOs. The immense amount of effort on communication, discussion and mutual support of the group leaders, as well as the hard work of all participating groups, all contributed  to the completion of this report. Through this report, we endeavor  to indicate an insufficiency toward the realization of disability rights in Taiwan and propose policy recommendations that faithfully reflect the needs of persons with disabilities.

Acknowledgement

We would like to convey our most sincere gratitude, in addition to all participating groups, named and unnamed, for their valuable contributions; and Hsiao-An, a member of the Fountain House of Eden Social Welfare Foundation for providing cover design materials; special acknowledgements shall also be given to executive editors and translators for their teamwork, and friends and volunteers at home and abroad for their assistance in the completion of the Chinese-English translation, and special thanks to Berkley Bragg for his contribution in proofreading. The publication of this report would not have been possible without the support from many of Covenants Watch’s individual donors, funding from the Human Rights Educational and Promotional Activities Project of the National Human Rights Museum, and funding from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. We hereby express our deepest gratitude.