National Human Rights Commission, TaiwanNational Human Rights Commission, Taiwan

The United Nations (UN) specifically emphasizes in the preamble to the Bill of Human Rights that it is necessary to learn from the painful lessons of World War I and World War II, protect fundamental human rights, and maintain world peace committedly. The Human Rights Committee (known as the “Human Rights Council” currently) was established in accordance with the provision of Article 68 of the Bill of Human Rights with the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” passed promptly in the 1948 General Assembly.

Since the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” is only a political declaration, the United Nations has successively passed various “covenants on human rights” to promote the specific implementation of human rights protection. However, the “No Trial without Complaint” policy is adopted in general, and there is no mechanism to regularly review whether the member state is performing its obligations. For example, “The Convention on the Political Rights of Women” in 1952, “The Convention against Discrimination in Education” in 1960, “The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid” in 1973, etc.

The so-called “core covenants on human rights” refers to those with “treaty bodies” established specifically, that is, the “Convention Committee” composed of human rights experts appointed in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the covenants on human rights who are responsible for reviewing and supervising the “national reports” submitted by the member states regularly. Also, the implementation and progress of relevant human rights protection is substantiated through the comprehensive and recycling tracking and supervision processes.

The “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)” passed in 1965 was the first committee established by the United Nations for the covenants on human rights, which was composed of dedicated human rights experts to handle relevant complaints. The “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)” that came into effect in 1976 was an important milestone for the establishment of a committee to review the “national reports” submitted by the member states mandatorily and regularly.

There are a total of 9 Core UN Covenants on Human Rights that have been gradually nationalized in Taiwan or have taken effect according to the law of Taiwan, including the following 6 covenants on human rights:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)

The human rights groups are actively advocating the nationalization of human rights now, and the Executive Yuan is currently planning or evaluating the following three covenants on human rights:

• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICMW)
• International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED)
• The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)

Taiwan has been outside the United Nations system involuntarily for years. However, Taiwan is committed to having the covenants on human rights nationalized voluntarily and fulfilling the national obligations under the covenants on human rights since the 21^st century. The so-called “Taiwan style” contains the senses of two: the “enforcement law” for the nationalization of the covenants on human rights and the “local international review” of the national human right reports in Taiwan by the international human rights experts of the United Nations who are equipped with the necessary expertise and experience.

Regarding the “enforcement law,” since Taiwan cannot become a member state by following the procedures of signing, ratifying, depositing, etc, the “Enforcement Law for the Covenants on Human Rights” has been passed by the Legislative Yuan with legal effect attached in Taiwan through the initiative of human rights groups and the support of successive presidents.

Especially, many international treaties or covenants on politics, military, and economics and trade within the United Nations are rights accompanied by corresponding obligations. However, the essence of the covenants on human rights is to demand nations to assume their obligations. Therefore, many progressive covenants on human rights are not necessarily supported or endorsed by authoritarians or conservative countries at the United Nations.

Taiwan is not a member state of the United Nations, but has demonstrated its determination to “voluntarily comply” with the nationalization of the covenants on human rights in accordance with the “enforcement law.” Therefore, Taiwan has won the affirmation and support of the UN human rights experts who are willing to accept the invitation to come to Taiwan to review the “national report” of Taiwan that is compiled and presented in accordance with the United Nations’ inspection standards and procedures, as well as the schedules that are stipulated in accordance with the covenants on human rights, in other words, the review conference is relocated from the United Nations to Taiwan, which is known as a “local international review.”

Taiwan has issued the national report of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) since the year of 2009, which is a local international review practiced for the first time. The Legislative Yuan has successively passed enforcement laws for various covenants on human rights. The government has “National Reports” published a number of times based on different covenants on human rights. The National Human Rights Committee has issued independent evaluation opinions in accordance with the schedule stipulated in the covenants on human rights since its establishment in 2020, which are provided for the reference of international review committee members.