Taiwan’s Human Rights Implementation Acts: A Model for Successful Incorporation?

Abstract

Owing to her contested statehood, Taiwan has been barred from accession to any United Nations-related mechanisms including international human rights conventions. Beginning in 2009, Taiwan passed Implementation Acts to incorporate the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in several international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities. These Implementation Acts provide binding legal effect for the rights enshrined in those human rights conventions in Taiwan’s legal system, and stipulate a legal duty of the government—including the legislative, executive and judicial branches—for implementation and enforcement. The Implementation Acts even obliged the government to issue state reports based upon the requirements of those human rights conventions and created a system of review of government implementation by independent international experts with prior experience of serving on similar international panels. Perhaps the only matter that a domestic Implementation Act cannot stipulate is Taiwan’s membership and international participation in those human rights conventions. This chapter is aimed at analyzing the special mechanism of the Implementation Acts, discussing their particular functions, challenges and difficulties in the context of Taiwan’s special international situation. Drawing on these discussions, this chapter also explores whether the model provided for by the Implementation Acts may be suitable for human rights incorporation and enforcement beyond Taiwan.