(Chinese version attached below)
His Excellency President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
Office of the President
No. 122, Sec. 1, Chongqing S. Rd.
Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100, Taiwan
Fax: +886-2-2383-2941
Email (Secretary General) jlwu@oop.gov.tw
30 September 2011
Your Excellency,
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and our member organization the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) write to you today to express our grave concern on the resumption of executions under the death penalty in Taiwan. According to national media reports [1], 10 death row prisoners will be executed after 10 October 2011, the National Day of the Republic of China and ironically, also the World Day against the Death Penalty.
We deeply regret that the Taiwanese government resumed the executions of death row prisoners in 2010 after a four year lapse in which death penalty sentences were not carried out. This four year de facto moratorium was a significant progress shown by the government of Taiwan in upholding international human rights laws and standards. Regrettably, this ended on 30 April 2010 when four people were executed. Earlier this year on 4 March 2011, we came to know that another five prisoners were executed by firing squad. It was shocking that their family members were informed only after the executions took place.
We are disturbed that in Taiwan, the law does not provide express procedures for those sentenced to death to seek pardon or commutation of their sentence, a right protected under article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) [2], which Taiwan has ratified in 2009.
Death penalty is the ultimate inhumane and irrevocable punishment, which fails to bring restorative justice to the families of the victims of the crime, inevitably claims innocent convicts, and has not been proven to actually deter crimes more than other punishments. It is a direct violation of the fundamental right to life. Since 1997, the UN Commission on Human Rights and now the Human Rights Council has consistently called upon all states that still uphold the death penalty to ‘abolish the death penalty completely and, in the meantime, to establish a moratorium on executions’. [3]
The introduction of an immediate moratorium on execution is a first step to abolish the death penalty, as provided by UN General Assembly resolution 62/149 of 18 December 2007 and following resolutions. We had believed that through its earlier four year moratorium, Taiwan has acknowledged the cruelty of death sentences and could in fact play a leading role in the region in advocating for the abolishment of the death penalty. We are deeply disappointed that the Taiwanese government, instead of moving towards abolishing the death penalty all together, chose to reverse its position on protecting human rights by stating that it “will not make promises to any other country to reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty”. [4] Taiwan risks further isolating itself from a growing global community of countries, 139 so far, which have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.
Taiwan must adhere to international human rights laws and principles strictly if the international community is to take seriously Taiwan’s ratification of the ICCPR. FORUM-ASIA, FIDH and TAHR therefore strongly urge your Government to commit to a definite policy for a permanent moratorium on executions and altogether abolish the death penalty.
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
Prof. Lin Chia-Fan
Chairperson
Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR)
Mr. Yap Swee Seng
Executive Director
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Ms. Souhayr Belhassen
President
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
CC:
Minister of Justice
Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫)
Ministry of Justice
No. 130, Sec. 1, Chongqing S. Rd.
Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100, Taiwan
Fax: +886-2-2331-9102
Email: jlwu@oop.gov.tw
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