Sept. 8
TAIWAN:
President reaffirms goal of abolishing capital punishment----Many will
support end of death penalty if other measures are introduced, poll says
President Chen Shui-bian yesterday reaffirmed the aim of his Democratic
Progressive Party administration "to reduce the number of executions of
the death penalty to zero in the shortest time possible."
Chen made the statement to end use of the death penalty during a meeting
with a delegation from the Paris-based International Federation for Human
Rights led by IFHR Vice Chairwoman Siobhan Ni Chulachain at the Office of
the President yesterday morning.
Relating his own past history as a lawyer and long-time human rights
activist, Chen said he was "very happy" to meet with the "fact finding"
delegation of the IFHR, which is the world's oldest human rights
non-governmental organization having been established in 1922 and
including over 140 human rights organizations under its wing worldwide.
Chen noted that the IFHR holds to the "high ideals" of equity and justice
and expressed admiration for the IFHR's long-term active promotion of the
provision of legal assistance to victims and the abolition of the death
penalty.
Chen related that Taiwan had recently enacted a legal aid law and, in
2004, established a Legal Aid Foundation, which now has chapters all
around Taiwan and has "achieved considerably rich results."
The president also related that he had written numerous briefs and
interpellations in the Legislative Yuan during his time as a special
assistant to his wife Wu Shu-chen, who was then a legislator.
Chen said that he had then recognized that the abolition of the death
penalty had become an international trend as at least 1 new country
abolished the death penalty every year.
The president stated that the DPP administration had listed gradual
abolition of capital punishment as one of its key administrative
objectives to "build a human rights state" when it came to office in May
2000.
"However to this day, there is widespread doubt in Taiwanese society
regarding abolition of the death penalty," Chen acknowledged.
The president related that public opinion polls showed that up to 80 % of
those surveyed did not approve of the abolition of capital punishment, but
added polls also showed that about 40 % of Taiwan adults would support an
end to the death penalty if comprehensive complementary measures were put
in place.
During the past five years, Chen said he had promoted revision of related
laws to change absolute or mandatory death sentences to relative or
discretionary use of capital punishment and that only the crime of piracy
now still had a mandatory death sentence.
Moreover, Chen said that the DPP government had promoted revisions of the
criminal code to hike the threshold for release of imprisoned convicts in
hopes that genuine life sentences could replace capital punishment.
The president told the IFHR group that prior to direct abolition of
capital punishment, the government's transition policy was to reduce the
actual use of capital punishment.
As a result, executions in Taiwan have fallen from 32 in 1998 and 24 in
1999, the year before Chen was elected president, to 17 in 2000, 10 in
2001, just 3 last year and only one so far in 2005.
"We hope to reduce the number of executions to zero in the shortest time,"
Chen stated.
Despite "intense efforts" and "considerable progress" in promoting the
goal of "building a human rights state," Chen stated that he was by no
means self-satisfied and admitted that Taiwan has much room to improve.
The IFHR delegation thanked the president for his long-term devotion to
the human rights struggle and expressed the hope that Taiwan can continue
to promote human rights and become a global model.
The delegation will also meet with Judicial Yuan President Weng Suo-jan,
Justice Minister Shih Mao-lin and various human rights groups during their
fact-finding mission to Taiwan.
(source: Taiwan News)
***********************
Executions uncivilized, Chen states----MAKING PROGRESS: The president
vowed to keep hoping that fewer people would be put to death by the state
in the future, and said beating kids was bad
President Chen Shui-bian again expressed the hope that capital punishment
will be "phased out" in Taiwan once and for all.
Chen made the remarks when receiving Siobhan Ni Chulachain, Vice
Chairwoman of the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH), at the
Presidential Office yesterday.
Chen said that Taiwan has made an effort to reduce the death penalty for
years, and the number of people executed has been reduced from 32 in 1998,
to 20 in 1999 and only 3 last year.
Chen first pledged to end the death penalty after he was elected in 2000,
but he did not supply figures for the 1st 3 years of his presidency.
"So far, there's been only one execution this year. Our goal is to not
have any executions in the near future," Chen said.
The president expressed his admiration for the International League for
Human Rights, saying that because of the league's efforts, at least one
country a year has repealed the death penalty recently.
Representatives of FIDH said that Taiwan's promotion of human rights
serves as a good example for China and the rest of the world.
Later in the day, Chen received representatives of organizations
advocating children's rights, including the International Save the
Children Alliance and Taiwan-based Humanistic Education Foundation, Chen,
saying that cases involving child abuse have been reported more frequently
than ever, and called for banning corporal punishment of children in
Taiwan's Educational Basic Law in a bid to change society.
Chen said that Taiwan is becoming a country with no corporal punishment of
children, as a showcase of education in Asia.
"I am absolutely against corporal punishment of children, or of women.
Unfortunately, we see more and more cases regarding corporal punishment in
families, schools and many corners of the society," he said.
I would like to have the Ministry of Education include a ban on such
punishments in Taiwan's Educational Basic Law," Chen said.
Representatives said that not all adults realize that corporal punishment
invades human rights of children and is a kind of child abuse.
"People don't know such punishment might create negative impacts on
children both mentally and physically in the long term," said Dominique
Pierre Plateau of the International Save the Children Alliance, which was
founded in 1919 and offers assistance in 111 countries.
Representatives suggest that, in the era of human rights, Taiwan's
government has to offer people new ways to review the necessity of
corporal punishment, a method used for generations in the society to
discipline children.
Representatives said that in Switzerland, the implementation of laws that
clearly bans corporal punishment did not cause an increase in crime rates
involving youngsters.
(source: Taipei Times)
JAPAN:
Gangster gets death sentence for killing 5 in gang feud
The Saitama District Court on Thursday sentenced a gangster to death for
shooting dead 5 other gangsters in December 2003.
Kaiichi Yamamoto, 58, the boss of a gang affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai
crime syndicate, gunned down Genichi Hosoda, 69, boss of another
Sumiyoshi-kai-affiliated group, and 4 other gangsters when the 6 were
holding a meeting in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture. Yamamoto was on bad terms
with Hosoda and suspected Hosoda was planning to kill him or his
relatives, according to the prosecutors.
(source: Kyodo News)
