In response to Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu’s statement that there could be “an opportunity this month” to carry out executions

Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty

Press release

March 1, 2011

In response to Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu’s statement that there could be “an opportunity this month” to carry out executions:

At the legislature yesterday morning (March 1), Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu said in response to a question from Legislator Wu Yu-sheng that there could be “an opportunity this month” to carry out executions. Tseng said the Ministry of Justice is investigating whether any inmates currently on death row do not have pending applications for extraordinary appeal, retrial or judicial review. The ministry would proceed to the next step in such cases, he said, meaning that “there would be an opportunity [to carry out executions] this month” (Central News Agency).

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) would like to draw attention to the following:

In 2009, Taiwan approved the UN’s two key human rights covenants, the ICCPR and the ICESCR. On Dec. 10, 2009, a domestic law to implement the covenants within Taiwan took effect. This law requires that “all levels of governmental institutions and agencies conform to the human rights safeguards enshrined in the two Covenants.” Furthermore, in applying the covenants, their “legislative purposes and interpretations” as stipulated by the UN Human Rights Committee must also be respected (Articles 3 and 4 of the Act to Implement the ICCPR and ICESCR). These two provisions took immediate effect in 2009 and are unrelated to the provision in Article 8 that allows agencies two years to amend laws and regulations that violate the covenants.

Under Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the ICCPR: “Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases.” This is legally binding in Taiwan. Moreover, the UN Human Rights Committee has stated in past decisions that governments should not carry out any executions if the necessary procedures for seeking a pardon are not in place. Thus, to comply with laws currently in effect in Taiwan (including the two UN covenants and the act to implement them), the government may not currently proceed with executions, as procedures have not yet been set up for seeking pardons.

On February 1 this year, President Ma Ying-jeou said public opinion is still divided on whether to abolish the death penalty. As such, the first step is to reduce the use of the death penalty and wait until the public has reached a consensus to end it, he said. Both Ma and Tseng have said they are compelled to “act in accordance with the law” when it comes to executions, but that the government will work to reduce the application of the death penalty. What, then, is their reason for rushing to immediately — and illegally — carry out executions before legislation on pardon procedures is in place?

Minister Tseng’s statement yesterday in response to Legislator Wu was inappropriate. We hope that Tseng is sincere when he says he will “act in accordance with the law.”