Excerpt: Taiwan Generally Respects Rights of Citizens, Report Says
(State Department report on human rights practices in 2001)

Taiwan authorities generally respected the human rights of citizens in 2001, according to a report on human rights practices in Taiwan released by the Department of State March 4.

Principal problems included police abuse of detainees; prison overcrowding; allegations of judicial corruption; some infringements on citizens' privacy; violence and discrimination against women; child prostitution and abuse; societal discrimination against Aborigines; restrictions on workers' freedom of association and on their ability to strike; and a few instances of trafficking in women and children, the report says.

The full report can be found online at:

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001

Following is the introduction to the Taiwan section of the China Country Report on Human Rights Practices for the Year 2001:

(begin excerpt)

China (Taiwan only)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 4, 2001

Taiwan is a multiparty democracy. The 2000 victory of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian followed more than 50 years of rule by the Kuomintang (KMT) and marked the first transition from one political party to another in Taiwan's history. The president appoints the premier, who heads the Executive Yuan (EY), or Cabinet. Constitutional amendments adopted in 1997 provided the Legislative Yuan (LY) with the authority to dismiss the Cabinet with a no-confidence vote. In December the DPP won a plurality of seats in the LY in free and fair elections. In addition to the DPP, the KMT, the People First Party, and the Taiwan Solidarity Union play significant roles in the LY. The Judicial Yuan (JY) is constitutionally independent of the other branches of the political system, and the Government respected the judiciary's independence in practice.

The National Police Administration (NPA) of the Ministry of Interior (MOI), the NPA's Criminal Investigation Bureau, and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Investigation Bureau are responsible for law enforcement relating to internal security. The police and security agencies are under effective civilian control. The police occasionally committed human rights abuses.

Taiwan has a dynamic, export-oriented, free market economy. Liberalization of the economy has diminished the dominant role that state-owned and party-run enterprises played in such major sectors as finance, transportation, utilities, shipbuilding, steel, telecommunications, and petrochemicals. Services and capital- and technology-intensive industries are the most important sectors. Major exports include computers, electronic equipment, machinery, and textiles. Its more than 22 million citizens generally enjoy a high standard of living and an equitable income distribution.

The authorities generally respected the human rights of citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Principal problems included police abuse of detainees; prison overcrowding; allegations of judicial corruption; some infringements on citizens' privacy (although wiretaps, which were a problem in the past, are no longer abused); violence and discrimination against women; child prostitution and abuse; societal discrimination against Aborigines; restrictions on workers' freedom of association and on their ability to strike; and a few instances of trafficking in women and children.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)


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