A Constitutional Court ruling limited the use of the death penalty but upheld its retention. Anti-discrimination legislation was drafted but not adopted. Legal reforms granted greater recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, but restrictions remained. Victims of a toxic chemical spill by a Taiwanese company remained uncompensated.
Background
A bill to expand the powers of the legislature was adopted by parliament in May, despite mass protests. In October, the Constitutional Court ruled that many articles contained in the bill were unconstitutional.
Death penalty
A Constitutional Court ruling in September upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty but limited its use. The ruling introduced new procedural safeguards and required existing safeguards to be more strictly observed in death penalty cases, including those involving defendants with mental disabilities.1
Refugees’ and migrants’ rights
Despite commitments under the 2022-2024 National Human Rights Action Plan, the government failed to progress legislation to establish an asylum system.
During the year, the authorities deported to third countries Chinese asylum seekers who were transiting in Taiwan. Individuals risked subsequent transfer from these countries to the People’s Republic of China where they could be in danger of human rights violations.
Incidents of human trafficking were reported, and concerns about poor working and living conditions of migrant workers on fishing vessels persisted. In August the Fisheries Agency intervened in the case of nine Indonesian fishermen who had been working on a fishing vessel for 15 months without pay or access to Wi-Fi to enable contact with the outside world.2
Discrimination
In May, the government published a draft anti-discrimination act. This followed recommendations by the International Review Committee, the body responsible for reviewing Taiwan’s implementation of the CERD, for the government to take measures to tackle systemic discrimination including by enshrining protections in law. The act had not been adopted by year’s end.
Six separate administrative court decisions affirmed the right of transgender people to legally change their gender without undergoing surgery. In September, the government announced that same-sex marriages between partners from Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China that take place in a third country will be recognized in Taiwan.
Indigenous Peoples’ rights
In March, the Supreme Court overturned the 2015 conviction of an Indigenous man, Wang Guanglu, for illegal hunting. However, laws limiting the hunting rights of Indigenous Peoples remained in place. In May an amendment to the Name Act removed the requirement for Indigenous Peoples to use Mandarin names, thereby allowing them to use only their Indigenous names in official documents.
Corporate responsibility
The government published draft Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Taiwanese Enterprises’ Supply Chain and an updated draft National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. Neither of these included adequate measures to address the negative human rights impacts of businesses. In May, eight UN experts wrote to representatives of Formosa Plastic Corporation. They raised concern about its failure to compensate victims of a toxic chemical waste spill off the Viet Nam coast in 2016 by its subsidiary, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, which destroyed the livelihoods of local fishing communities.
