Taiwan: Amnesty International urges Ma to end death penalty

Amnesty International has called on President Ma Ying-jeou to scrap the death penalty and set an example for other economies in the Asia region.

"We look to Taiwan as a leader in the region on progress toward abolition," wrote Laudio Cordone, interim secretary general of the London-based human rights organization, in a letter March 18.

The overture comes less than a week after Taiwan's former Justice Minister Wang Chin-feng stepped down following her comments in support of striking capital punishment off Taiwan's statute books.

In his letter, Cordone reminded Ma of the commitment he made to Amnesty International in June 2008 to not lift a moratorium on executions in Taiwan.

"The lives of the 44 inmates on death row must not be compromised because of the current political controversy. Taiwan should join more than 2/3 of countries around the world and abolish capital punishment in law or practice."

In response, a senior Cabinet official said death sentences in Taiwan will be carried out in accordance with the law. "Criminals convicted of capital offences must be executed unless a reasonable excuse is presented."

"However, this issue needs further debate. The government will instruct the Ministry of Justice and related law enforcement authorities to increase public education efforts so as to create an environment conducive to rational debate."

Separately, a survey conducted by local daily "China Times" showed that 84 % of the Taiwan public is opposed to abolishing the death penalty. Concerning the 44 inmates on death row, 77 % believe they must be executed. Only 13 % said executions should be halted for humane reasons.

The poll also revealed that 61 % found no direct connection between abolishing capital punishment, human rights and promoting Taiwans international profile. Around 27 % indicated that these matters do correlate.

As to the policy of replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment, 58 % are in opposition while 35 % said it represents an acceptable compromise on this issue.

The national telephone survey was conducted March 12 and polled 860 ROC citizens aged over 18.

Source: Taiwan Today, March 19, 2010

Death penalty row risks Taiwan's image

An open letter addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday by Amnesty International confirms that that the global human rights community "has noted" and is distressed by "the recent debate on the death penalty sparked by former Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng's open support for a moratorium on executions and her subsequent resignation."

Less than a week after Wang resigned under pressure from Ma, Premier Wu Den-yih and ruling rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) lawmakers, Acting AI Secretary General Claudio Cordone publically called on Ma to "ensure that Taiwan remains firm in reaching for its stated goal of abolition of the death penalty."

Moreover, Cordone urged the Taiwan president "not to waiver from" assurances given the London-based human rights organization in a meeting on June 18, 2008 "that Taiwan's de facto moratorium would remain in place" and declared that "the lives of the 44 inmates on death row must not be compromised because of the current political controversy."

The AI declaration came on the heels of an appeal by the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) for Taiwan "to maintain the moratorium and take a lead toward abolition among Asian countries."

The AI leader also pointedly reminded Ma of his promise in a meeting with the Prosecutors' Association on March 15, 2010 that "Taiwan must increase public debate and education about the death penalty.

Cordone noted that the controversy was "an opportunity to highlight the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, one that runs the risk of irrevocable error, fails to provide restorative justice to victims' families, and has not been proven to have any special deterrent effect" against crime.

Chance for leadership

Moreover, both AI and ADPAN separately pointed out that the global trend is toward abolition, with more than 2/3 of the countries of the world having abolished the death penalty in law or in practice" and were in accordance with "United Nations General Assembly resolutions in 2007 and 2008 calling for a global moratorium on executions as a first step toward abolition."

Ma and other KMT government and party leaders should not lightly dismiss the content and implications of this public declaration by Amnesty International, whose statements on Taiwan have particular weight given the London-based organization's global prestige and long-term role as observer, critic and participant in Taiwan's progress from authoritarianism to democracy.

From being an intense critic of the systematic violations of the human rights of the Taiwan people during the long decades of KMT martial law rule through the late 1980s, AI praised the KMT-controlled Legislative Yuan's ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which clearly aim for abolition of the death penalty, into Taiwan law.

In a compliment repeatedly quoted by Ma in human rights related speeches, AI said "Taiwan's actions present a strong model for the region that economic growth and prosperity can go along hand in hand with increasing respect for human rights."

As Cordone noted, AI has looked upon Taiwan under both the former DPP government and under Ma "as a leader in the region on progress toward abolition" and has hoped that Taiwan's support for a moratorium along with other regional states, such as Mongolia which formally announced a moratorium in January, "will influence the governments of Japan and the People's Republic of China to take similar steps themselves."

Turned on its head, the AI statement also hints that Ma's possible appointment of a justice minister willing to end the four year moratorium would hurt his own credibility and undermine Taiwan's international image as a regional human rights leader and a "lighthouse" to the PRC, whose authoritarian leaders would be most pleased by the resumption of executions in Taiwan.

No exit from choice

Wang's public refusal to sign execution order was undoubtedly politically clumsy, but Ma's cowardly refusal to affirm the right of his justice minister "under the law" to refrain from signing execution orders has put himself and Taiwan's hard-won positive human rights image in the political frying pan.

If the next justice minister decides to maintain the tacit moratorium, Ma will face even more angry pressure from extremist death penalty advocates and ultraconservatives in his own party.

If Wang is succeeded by a justice minister who signs execution orders, Ma will himself bear ultimate political responsibility for up to 44 executions, will stand exposed as a human rights hypocrite to the world community, and face a possibly fatal narrowing of his political support base by alienating many moderate "light blue" and "light green" voters.

In contrast to Wang's prediction that the forced resignation of a justice minister for refusing to sign execution orders would become "an international joke," AI's reaction shows that the world community believes that Taiwan's possible retreat from global mainstream values is an extremely grave affair.

We therefore second AI's appeal to urge Ma to realize that his best choice, for the sake of Taiwan and his own political future, is to "demonstrate leadership and continue on the path toward abolition."

Source: eTaiwan News, March 20, 2010