The Power of Evolution The United Nations urges the States to take and Protection of Human Rights (ICC).” Based on appropriate steps to establish national human statistics collected by scholar Fort Fu-Te Liao, 112 rights institutions for the implementation of such national human rights institutions were successively international human rights conventions. established from 1990 to 2009 thanks to the The Process of Continuously Advancing Forward 1999 period of time, Taiwan established the democratic "National Human Rights Commission Advocacy Alliance" and together an initiative was developed. In response to public opinion, the "Human Rights Protection Committee" was established under the Control Yuan at the Presidency of Lee Tenghui in March 2000. In 1990, the United Nations Commission on the first transition of political power in 2000. Human Rights requested a workshop to be held Since then, the NGOs and the government have and attended by the representatives of national proactively started the process of establishing and regional institutions engaging in advocacy a national human rights institution and Taiwan’s and protection of human rights. The first workshop National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was was held in Paris from October 7 to 9, 1991. officially founded on August 1, 2020. constitutional reform in 1990, achieved the entire re-election of parliament in 1992, held the first direct presidential election in 1996, and realized The Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions for the Protection and Promotion of In accordance with the Paris Principles and the Human Rights (the Paris Principles) were then Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions adopted by the UN General Assembly on (GANHRI, formerly the ICC), the accreditation status December 20, 1993, and they encouraged all as of 20 January 2021 is as follow: a total of 127 states in the world to set up their own national national human rights institutions have been reviewed human rights institutions. The national human rights and accredited, 84 of them are accredited as fully institutions are created by states through their compliant with the Paris Principles (accredited with constitution or law, with the mandate to promote an ‘A’ Status and they are allowed to participate in and protect human rights. These institutions are the United Nations Human Rights Council and its independent institutions with pluralism and a mechanisms), 33 of them are accredited as partially wide range of functions and authorities based on compliant with the Paris Principles (‘B’ Status); both international human rights standards. After that, ‘A’ and ‘B’ Status are considered members of the the UN established the “International Coordinating GANHRI. However, there are still 10 non-compliant Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion institutions (‘C’ Status). 2000 08 Africa Americas Europe Total ‘A’ Status 16 0 23 15 30 84 ‘B’ Status 8 3 10 3 9 33 ‘C’ Status 2 0 2 3 3 10 Total 26 3 35 21 42 127 The Photo Courtesy of TAHR First Transition of Political Power • P resident Chen Shui-bian announced in his inauguration speech that an independently operated National Human Rights Commission will be established. • In June, the draft “Organic Act of the National Human Rights Commission” was released by the private sector; in October, the Presidential Office founded a “Human Rights Consultative Group” to facilitate the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission. Photo Courtesy of TAHR 2004 • In April, the Presidential Office "Human Rights Consultative Group" was expanded and became the "Human Rights Consultative Committee." It was dismissed due to the Legislative Yuan’s resolution in 2006. 2008 The Second Transition of Political Power 2009 • T he Act to Implement the ICCPR and ICESCR was promulgated in April. • On December 10, President Ma Ying-jeou restarted the Presidential Office "Human Rights Consultative Committee." 2013 • International human rights experts were invited to Taiwan to review the "Initial State Reports on ICCPR & ICESCR" and they provided a list of 81 concluding observations and recommendations. For the first time, Taiwan was urged to establish a National Human Rights Commission in accordance with the Paris Principles as soon as possible. 2014 • In July, the Presidential Office Human Rights Consultative Committee made three proposals regarding the establishment of the "National Human Rights Commission" under the Presidential Office, under the Executive Yuan, or establishing an independent institution, but none of these proposals were adopted. 2016 The Third Transition of Political Power 2017 • D  uring the review meeting of the "Second National Report on the ICCPR and ICESCR" held in January, international human rights experts once again urged Taiwan to establish a National Human Rights Commission and President Tsai Ingwen promised to finalize the plan as soon as possible. • In July, the Covenants Watch invited international human rights experts, including the former Chief Commissioner of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Rosslyn Noonan, to Taiwan to assist in evaluating the plans for establishing a national human rights institution in Taiwan. • In November, international experts released a formal assessment report in the name of the “Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF),” and indicated that “the best option for establishing a national human rights institution in a timely manner is to make it part of the Control Yuan.” • D uring the review meeting of the "Initial Report on CPRD," international human rights experts requested the establishment of a national human rights institution as an independent monitoring mechanism. 2019 • T he Legislative Yuan concurrently reviewed the draft organic act proposed by the Control Yuan as well as by legislators Koo Li-hsiung, Yu Mei-nu, and Chou Chun-mi. On December 10, the Legislative Yuan passed the draft “Organic Act of the Control Yuan National Human Rights Commission.” 2020 The National Human Rights Commission was officially established on August 1. GANHRI’s Classifications for Accreditation of National Human Rights Institutions Asia and the Pacific Central Asia civic alliance for the promotion of the National Human Rights Commission was established • Twenty-two groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, formed the proactive promotion of the ICC. During this UN General Assembly Adopts the “Paris Principles” and Sets Standards That Frame and Guide the Work of National Human Rights Institutions T he 09