- the letter itself, which is posted at IFHR's web site
- also posted at TAIWAN Wild StrawBerries Movement web site
- A commentary 您最缺的國際觀：人權
- Taipei Times reports: Federation concerned about police response to protests
20/11/2008
Taiwan
SendOpen letter to
- President Ma Ying-jeou
- Premier Liu Chao-hsuan
- Republic of China – Taiwan
Your Excellencies,
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is writing to you to express its deep concern regarding the detention and attacks against citizens protesting peacefully during the visit of Chinese envoy Mr. CHEN Yunlin. FIDH believes that such arrests and violence are grave violations of human rights, under the pretext of national security.
According to the information received, since November 3rd, 2008, the city of Taipei has been heavily occupied by more than 7,000 police officers. The authorities have taken many drastic measures, including: confiscating and damaging private property, harassing and assaulting people who came too close to undefined or vaguely defined areas, clearing communal highway lanes with force, conducting random searches and arrests, and restricting the freedom of movement of citizens. These actions have been taken during Mr. CHEN’s visit, in the name of protecting security.
However, we fear these aggressions in fact aim at suppressing the right to freedom of expression of citizens. To supplement this violence, there are also unprecedented restrictions which clearly overpass the limits of ensuring security. For example, citizens have been restricted from displaying or carrying the national flag of Taiwan, forbidden to declare that “Taiwan is not part of China”, forbidden from carrying filming devices, and restricted from playing any music the authorities consider inappropriate.
These measures seem to be aimed at silencing political opinions rather than protecting security, and thus they blatantly violate the Constitution of Taiwan, notably Articles 11 and 14 which protect freedom of expression and international human rights standards. Consequently, FIDH requests that the National Police Agency and National Security Bureau, bound by the Constitution and the national legislation, should be held responsible for violating their legal obligations. The Judicial Yuan and Control Yuan should immediately conduct independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of human rights violations and hold all personnel in office accountable for neglecting their civil and legal obligations, in line with the Judicial Yuan’s recent statement that “it is very important to form an objective and solid review standard, and make the constitutional reviews more predictable and trust-worthy to people”. Those who perpetrated these violations, particularly in the National Police Agency and National Security Bureau, must be held accountable, in accordance with Article 24 of the Constitution of Taiwan, which stipulates that “Any public employee who, in violation of law, infringes upon the freedom or right of any person shall, in addition to being subject to disciplinary punishment in accordance with law, be liable to criminal and civil action. The victim may, in accordance with law, claim damages from the State for any injury sustained therefrom.”
More generally, FIDH calls upon the government to amend the Parade and Assembly Law, in particular : to abolish the requirement for mandatory permits and adopt the system of voluntary basis and the clause on special area of restriction, which gives too much discretion to the authority to restrict people’s freedom of association and freedom of expression. In addition the authorities should abolish the order to dismiss as well as the provisions on special criminal punishment, which is a legacy of the martial law era. Finally, Taiwan should establish the protocol for law enforcement personnel who should have the obligation to clearly announce his or her identity when on duty, to ensure legitimacy and accountability.
Your Excellencies,
Our Organization firmly believes that the fruit of Taiwan’s remarkable democratization has landmark significance to the Asian continent as a whole. We therefore express our serious concern over the alarming human rights degradation in Taiwan, and we do take it as a signal of a negative trend undermining the values of democracy and human rights on which Taiwan should be based. Hoping that you will take into consideration the above mentioned concerns, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Souhayr Belhassen
- FIDH President
您最缺的國際觀：人權
◎ 劉順明
總 部在法國巴黎的國際人權聯盟（FIDH，成立於一九二二年，是全球最早的國際非政府人權組織，聯盟成員來自一百多個國家），十一月二十日發表給台灣政府的 一封公開信"Deep concern regarding the detention and attacks against citizens protesting peacefully during the visit of Chinese envoy Mr. CHEN Yunlin"（參見http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article6006）， 信中對馬政府假國安之名行侵犯人權之實頗多批評("FIDH believes that such arrests and violence are grave violations of human rights, under the pretext of national security.")。
此外，我也收到朋友從美國轉寄過來的email，是美國「自由之家」剛剛發布的新聞稿，內容是呼籲馬政府成立獨立機構，調查陳雲林來台時，因警民嚴重衝突，所造成的侵害人權事件（參見http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=725）。
更早，新聞週刊(Newsweek)也在十一月中旬，由北京局負責人劉美遠(Melinda Liu)針對馬政府一連串快速逮捕卸任總統、前朝官員所引起台灣社會對司法獨立的質疑，以及陳雲林事件公權力執法過當，作了深入分析（http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/chinacalling/archive/2008/11/12/fallout-from-chen-shui-bian-s-dramatic-arrest.aspx）。
劉美遠文章指出，因為馬政府大量逮捕前朝官員，史無前例地讓二十位（目前已經增加至二十四位）關心台灣司法人權的國外學者聯名發表公開信"Political arrests and detentions in Taiwan"(http://www.taiwandc.org/Statement%20arrests%20Nov%202008.htm)，表達嚴重關切，並質疑台灣司法獨立性。而中國特使陳雲林來訪期間，因警察強勢執法，導致大規模流血衝突，也是台灣民主化以來罕見。
從「自由之家」、國際人權聯盟相繼對台灣人權的關心，以及國外學者聯名公開信質疑台灣司法，和劉美遠的文章，不正是在對台灣逐漸流失的民主成果，提出嚴重警訊嗎？
中國惡劣的人權問題是國際版面的常客，曾幾何時，台灣的人權水準似乎也有漸漸跟中國看齊的趨勢，成了知名人權組織關心的對象。孰令致之？完全執政且掌有絕對權力的馬政府難辭其咎。
過去中國國民黨長期執政時，總是灌輸台灣人一個觀念：經濟好最重要。讓台灣人對於自己的基本人權與政治權利一知半解。所幸，在許多勇於衝撞體制的民主前輩的犧牲下，才換來今天的民主成果。然而，似曾相識的威權場景，似乎又悄悄地回來了。
馬總統曾經在媒體公開讚揚並要學習新加坡，馬上令人聯想到新加坡的「開明專制」。以馬政府這半年相關施政作為，包括兩岸簽訂協議規避民意監督、漠視人民大規模遊行以及罔顧人權的跡象顯示，馬先生似乎正朝著「專制」道路邁進。至於「開明」與否，則依其慈悲心自由裁量了！（作者為美國卡內基美隆大學公共政策與管理碩士）
Federation concerned about police response to protests By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Nov 24, 2008, Page 3
The International Federation for Human Rights has become the latest international group to express concern regarding the response of police to protests against Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林) earlier this month.
The Paris-based group sent letters to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) on Wednesday, expressing concern over what it called “grave violations of human rights” committed by police during the protests.
The police’s actions were aimed at suppressing freedom of speech, the group said.
In the letter, the federation said the authorities “had taken many dramatic measures, including: confiscating and damaging private property, harassing and assaulting people who came too close to undefined or vaguely defined areas, clearing communal highway lanes with force, conducting random searches and arrests, and restricting the freedom of movement of citizens.”
The organization said it feared the “aggressions” were intended to suppress “freedom of expression of citizens.”
“These measures seem to be aimed at silencing political opinions rather than protecting security, and they blatantly violate the Constitution of Taiwan [sic], notably Article[s] 11 and 14 which protect freedom of expression and international human rights standards.”
“The police and national security authority should be held responsible for violating their legal obligations,” the group said.
It called on the Judicial Yuan and Control Yuan to investigate the allegations of human rights violations.
It also called on the government to amend the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) to abolish the requirement that protest organizers apply for permits from the police.
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