1. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Taiwan, which began operations on August 1, 2020, is an independent body dedicated to human rights protection and promotion. In accordance with its statutory mandate, the NHRC hereby provides an independent opinion on the Fourth CEDAW Report submitted by the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2022; the implementation of some substantive articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), especially on issues that have not been improved despite repeated recommendations by the International Review Committee (IRC) in 2009, 2014, and 2018; and on other inadequate legal protections.
2. In addition to referencing investigative reports by the Control Yuan, the NHRC held two expert consultation meetings, seven meetings with civil society organizations, and three meetings with government agencies between December 2021 and February 2022. It wrote to 14 government agencies to request explanations and statistical information in order to understand whether the legal protection for women’s rights and interests is adequate, whether there are any deficiencies in policy implementation, and the actions and difficulties faced by government agencies to implement CEDAW.
3. Since the initial CEDAW Report was submitted in 2009, there have been three international reviews, with active participation by governmental and non-governmental organizations. In the past four years, there has been considerable progress in women’s rights and gender equality, such as Taiwan becoming the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage (2019); women’s parliamentary representation surpassing 40 percent (2020); the repeal of the crime of adultery in the Criminal Code; and the passage of the Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act (2021). However, the NHRC found that in the past four years, there are still cases of failure or stagnation in the implementation of CEDAW:
• Access to justice for women victims of violence is not fully guaranteed
• Women’s work-family life balance remains difficult to reach
• Legal protection of the rights of migrant domestic workers is insufficient
• Women in disadvantaged groups still do not have equal rights to marriage and family
• Women’s sexual and reproductive health rights in rural areas are not protected, and their right to political participation is not yet equally respected
• Insufficient data from gender surveys of women from disadvantaged groups hinders comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 impact and post-COVID recovery plans
4. The NHRC expects that this Independent Opinion will be useful to the current IRC in its review. In accordance with the resolution attached to the Enforcement Act of CEDAW, the NHRC recommends that the five branches of the government should establish mechanisms to monitor inequality and discrimination caused by inadequacies in the legal system or failures in implementation.