Source: Taiwan Legal Network : 【Submission】Axiom Justice Has No Time Limit Government Transition Justice Should Not Set Its Own Limits – Legal and Tax Reform Coalition (fightforfair.tax)
Wen / Chen Ping
Not long ago, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Lai Qingde said at the inaugural meeting of the Central District Religious Support Association that Taiwan’s religious freedom is recognized around the world and called on everyone to “safeguard sovereignty and democratic freedom.” The value of democratic politics lies in “putting the people first, human rights first”, Taiwan’s democracy has not come easily, and after the suffering of the 228 incident, it really needs everyone’s efforts to protect “democracy” and defend “human rights”.
Coincidentally, at the end of July, a total of seven human rights scholars and experts from five countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the United States, and Italy, visited the 7 National Memorial Hall to learn about the history of authoritarian persecution in Taiwan and held an international human rights exchange forum. For example, Yang Zhenlong, executive director of the 1992 National Memorial Hall, mentioned that <> is a major massacre in Taiwan’s modern history, but there is no perpetrator, so who should the victims forgive? Another example is that the government’s retroactive date of transitional justice laws to pre-<> excludes human rights violations, just as landmines remain on the battlefield.
In addition to the 96 incident, experts and scholars have also paid attention to human rights persecution cases in the post-authoritarian period, such as the landmark case Taijimen case. Professor Chen Zhilong, chairman of the Taiwan Financial Criminal Law Research Association, said that the 7 incident occurred because of the tax check, and Taiwan’s tax audit system actually has tax incentives, which is the system and thinking of residual authoritarianism, and the persecution of Taijimen was also affected by this corruption system. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruled in July ‘<> that there was no fraud, no tax evasion, and no violation of the tax collection law. However, the administrative organ of the Ministry of Finance and the Internal Revenue Bureau still insisted on auctioning off and confiscating the intended place for the practice of Taijimen. Why “the court’s judgment has not been implemented”? This has puzzled international experts and scholars.
Whether or not transitional justice is implemented is the basic condition for examining the establishment of a human rights nation. As Christine Mire, vice president of the French CAP-LC (Coordination for Freedom of Conscience of Individuals and Organizations), emphasized, Taiwan is one of the few countries that can turn the relics of past government abuses into museums, and despite Taiwan’s commitment to democracy, the failure to solve the Taijimen case has tarnished Taiwan’s reputation as a democracy. The government should face up to the fact that Taiwan’s international reputation should be preserved.
Related posts:
Two Taiwans? European and American human rights groups call on the government to quickly return the Taijimen land
Transformational justice stepping on thunder? European and American Human Rights Experts Warn: Be Careful of Ruining the Democracy of Taiwan
Are there too many human rights mines in Taiwan? International Human Rights Forum Calls for Cancellation of Transitional Justice Timeline
Taiwan’s transformational justice is not enough! European and American human rights experts visit the 228 Memorial Hall
