Cabinet to release national human rights action plan in December

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) The Executive Yuan is scheduled to release a national human rights action plan that will detail Taiwan's ongoing efforts and accomplishments on Dec. 10 to mark Human Rights Day, a senior Cabinet official said Monday.

Minister without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said the action plan will describe progress on human rights protections, including on how it plans to operate a Human Rights Committee under the Control Yuan that will begin operations in August.

Another major focus will be on how the government intends to regulate private companies to prevent, address and remedy human rights abuses committed by businesses, Lo added.

Lo made the comments at a Cabinet press event during which Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) released the nation's third human rights report.

The latest report detailed Taiwan's major human rights accomplishments from 2015 to 2019, Su said.

The main highlight, he said, was legalizing same-sex marriage in May 2019, making Taiwan the first country in Asia to do so.

Since then, over 4,000 LGBTQ couples have tied the knot in the country, Su said.

He also mentioned the move to establish a National Human Rights Committee under the government watchdog Control Yuan in December 2019 and a ruling by Taiwan's Constitutional Court in May to decriminalize adultery.

According to Su, Taiwan has previously released two human rights reports, on April 20, 2012 and April 25, 2016, to review Taiwan's implementation of two United Nations human rights covenants in the country.

He was referring to the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Lo said Monday the government will invite 10 international human rights scholars and experts to Taiwan in March 2021 to review the latest report and assess the nation's human rights practices.

According to Lo, two previous editions of human rights report were released by the Human Rights Consultative Committee under the Presidential Office.

The latest edition of the report was compiled and released by the Executive Yuan after the committee under the Presidential Office was disbanded in May following the Legislature's vote to establish the National Human Rights Committee under the Control Yuan.