For many democratic countries in the world, the human rights issue is a key indicator that whether a certain country is a developed nation or not. Taiwan is an island with several different colonization, also there were many skirmishes among ethnic groups in the beginning of Taiwanese history. We only fought for the invaders, not for independence of our country, and that’s why China still claims our island as their territory; though other factors such as the KMT’s stance, the Chinese Nationalist Party defeated by the CCP once and landed on Taiwan forever, is included. Taiwanese were tortured by authority powers for so many years, maybe ordinary citizens could not even have the basic rights, but after the democratization process, people walked on the street for protests and joined the political party to change our rights; this movement seemed to be a gleaming light in the darkness.

Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act

This new Act comes into effect this June, and was announced by the Ministry of the Interior in Dec. 2021. It was said that few years ago, there was a Malaysian Chinese who was an exchange student, was raped and killed by her acquaintance. Her parents came here for her funeral, and the media helped them spread the words and seek the justice. She told her friend that the guy stalked her several times, and harassed her after she refused to date him. Therefore, this prevention Act was announced after the incident in order to save more women in the near future. As long as the targeted person feel scared by stalking or harassment by any means, whether through social platform or physical objects, the police can handle the case once they receive the complaint.

Transitional Justice Commission

Act on Promoting Transitional Justice was first appeared in Dec. 2017, but officially announced to deal with victim cases and its office in May 2018. On May 31, 2022 was officially closed for the first period of mission, there were 107 dishonored places for detaining victims by then, 42 places were confirmed while 65 places are still in the process. However, some part of the Act was amended on May 27, 2022 waiting for an order from the Executive Yuan. Many Taiwanese were detained for almost a decade during the martial law, some were dead by the torture of the KMT party, some were survived and shared their stories with the public. Most of victims were innocent with the name of rebellion or colluded with the CCP by then, mainly political prisoners. Few overseas elites might just have a dinner with a Chinese student, but found out by the KMT agent, and then on the black list of the authority. Unlike the current situation, many KMT people are welcome the CCP rather than step down with apology. The Transitional Justice Promotion Act was interfered by the KMT and prolonged 2 times.

2-year-old boy died out of bureaucracy

The 2-year-old boy, En En, was dead as the first child case of Covid-19 in Taiwan. The case was traced back to this April, when the kid was first tested positive. They were isolated at home at first, but after underwent some medical procedures through certain medical facilities in the hospital, the boy went into coma with severe syndrome before transferring to another hospital. The New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, only provided the translated text to the public without disclosing all recorded voices between certain sectors, including the fire station, Department of Health and the 1922 hot line. The New Taipei City refused to provide relevant phone contact records based on the Personal Data Protection Law and The Freedom of Government Information Law, arousing anger of the public through the media. After few days, En En’s father could finally listen the recorded voices but only at the scene of government sector with no extra copy to take home. It was assumed that the boy might die due to the delinquency of certain official sectors. Although they are trying to explain their situation by media or social platform, the victims only suffer more with attacks and defamation through different venues, despite there are legislators supporting the boy’s family.

Conclusion

I think most locals should take into consideration that human rights is a very important issue, the government sector or any political party that refuses to treat citizens equally or apologizes for their mistakes is not deserved our admiration. Taiwanese should dedicate time and efforts in human rights, only when the justice is served, it’s the time that we can be proud of ourselves.