(TAEDP Campaign T-shirt Design)In the paper today were two pieces of information that should alert Taiwanese to the present Government's position on the death penalty, or abolition thereof. This comes in light of recent events that saw the previous Minister of Justice fall on her own sword over the issue followed swiftly by an abrupt end to a five year moratorium on executions:
The Ministry of Justice executed four inmates on Friday, leaving 40 others on death row. Until Friday’s executions, the ministry had not approved an execution since December 2005.The executions also upset some of Taiwan's European friends:
“It is revolting that four people have been put to death by a civilized, wealthy country. This is barbaric,” Australian Greens leader and Senator Bob Brown said on the sidelines of the Second Congress of the Asia Pacific Greens Network (APGN), being held in Taipei.
“It dehumanizes the governments that not only allow it to happen, but do not legislate against it,” he said.
The European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights yesterday voiced concern over Taiwan's recent execution of four convicts, saying it could impact on relations with the EU. Taiwan's ending of a moratorium on the death penalty “will certainly not help improve EU-Taiwan relations and will not help Taiwan in its strive towards greater international recognition,” said a statement issued by subcommittee president Heidi Hautala and subcommittee vice president Laima Andrikiene MEP, who also serves as the vice chairperson of the European Parliament Taiwan Friendship Group.But further executions were then given a green light by the Grand Justices of the Constitutional Court:
The Justices of the Constitutional Court rejected a petition yesterday aimed at halting plans to execute the 40 inmates that remain on death row.Then today, we opened our papers to read that (Taipei Times) President Ma held a meeting yesterday with the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP). The deputy convener of the TAEDP, Wu Chih-kuang (吳志光), reported Ma's comments as follows ....
“The defendants are given the opportunity to defend and express themselves during the trial process ... There is no violation of the Constitution in the convictions,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement.
“The request to suspend the executions is dismissed, as the court declines to review the case,” the court said.
“Execution of the death row prisoners does not violate the two United Nations covenants that Taiwan has signed,” the court said, in a reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“He said his position had always been that the public can discuss the matter and the public must come to a consensus on the controversial issue ... he told us he is not a supporter of abolishing the death penalty. Ma said he hoped to deal with the matter by reducing the number of death sentences.”Taiwan's Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) also had a comment to make ...
“I have conflicting views about the death penalty. I do not hope for the abolition of the death penalty, but on the other hand, I do not like revenge following revenge.”Both Ma and the MoJ's positions are now clear. They do not support abolishing the death penalty. Furthermore, Ma claimed that he had always said that the public can discuss the matter and come to a consensus. I wondered how consistent the President and MoJ have been on this issue so I did a search and found the following:
March 16th 2010 -
Ma said the interim steps the administration had taken before abolishing the death penalty were the proper way to go.
He called on the association, the judiciary and the justice ministry to play a more active role in promoting the idea of abolishing capital punishment.
"I think most people are against abolishing the death penalty mainly because of a lack of security.”
March 22nd 2010 -
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) panned the position of Tseng Yun-fu (曾勇夫) — who is to be sworn-in as Minister of Justice today — on the death penalty.
“Tseng said that whether capital punishment should be abolished should be decided when the public reaches a consensus, and that the ministry under his leadership would not have its own opinion,” Lin said. “This is in violation of the ICCPR because it stipulates that a signatory state should eventually abolish the death penalty.”
Tseng’s position not only violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights (ICSCR), but it also went against both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) positions, as both of them have stated that ending the death penalty is the government’s long-term policy objective, he said.
Nigel Li (李念祖), an attorney and lecturer in the seminar, said that although Article 6 of the ICCPR provides provisional measures to countries with the death penalty in the transitional period, the covenant’s ultimate objective is to require all signatory state parties to abolish capital punishment.
Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), a research assistant at Soochow University’s department of political science, said the two covenants were ratified and enacted in such a hurry that “both the government and the people don’t really know what they are about.”
March 30th 2010 -
On capital punishment, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said that “We will gradually narrow the scope of capital punishment to minimize violations to human rights.”
One main reason he is unwilling to abolish capital punishment is that a majority of the public opposes doing so. Ma says abolishing the death penalty is a long-term goal, but that it is not currently supported by mainstream public opinion.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) says he does not have any preconceived ideas on the issue and that he will listen to public opinion before coming up with complementary measures in response.
April 7th 2010 -
On the abolition of capital punishment, Ma said as the public is still polarized on this issue, “Before we change the law, we have to enforce the law,” he said.
“So the policy now is to gradually reduce the use of the death penalty,” he said. “I think it is realistic to have a policy to gradually reduce the use of the death penalty and then start a national discussion or debate in a very rational way just to find out whether we still need the death penalty to deal with heinous crimes.”
April 16th 2010 -
Taiwan moved one step closer to the abolition of capital punishment yesterday after Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) proposed that the death penalty be gradually phased out and replaced by life imprisonment without parole. The Ministry of Justice will propose the amendment to the Criminal Code (刑法) introducing the new penalty as part of a broader package including educational and legal aid to victims of violent crime within one year, Tseng said in the legislature.
“Our position is that we need to deal with current cases according to what already exists in the law books. However, it remains our goal to gradually reduce the use of capital punishment through the use of substitute sentencing,” Tseng said.
What does this tell us?
- Ma and the Government are more worried about the public's response to abolition of the death penalty and its impact on their election prospects than striving for a more humane society and government.
- Ma and the Government's position on the death penalty has been inconsistent - moving from a desire to gradually abolish the death penalty to actively supporting its retention.
- Ma and the Government are happy to cite Taiwan's unilateral participation (not recognised by the UN) in the ICCPR as an 'achievement' but are less interested in actually implementing the articles of the covenant.
- Ma and the Government are more scared of the reactions of people like Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰) than worrying about going to bed with the blood of potentially innocent people on their hands - see the case of the The Hsichih Trio — Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳).
