Security Bureau still has made no plan for related courses. Clearly, it has not
provided training of the special guard service in both law enforcement and
human rights in assembly and march. The National Police Agency and National
Security Bureau should focus on the human rights issues related to freedom of
assembly, increase law enforcers’ awareness of human rights, and work jointly
to create a fair and friendly assembly environment for public actions.
130. The police are used to encircling protesters with their superior police force,
and then taking them away from the site by force in police cars and releasing
them in a remote place. This is a new model adopted by the police to deal with
important assemblies and parades in recent years. This model is less invasive
than high-pressure water spraying and forced expulsion with police batons. All
the same, it not only asks the crowd to disperse or prohibits them from entering
specific areas, but also acts against their free will by restricting the protesters’
personal freedom for a considerable time and taking them to another place by
coercion. To some extent, it intervenes in personal freedom more broadly
defined, and as such falls within the scope of “arrest or detention” referred to
in Article 8 of the Constitution. This said model creates major doubts over the
legal basis for law enforcement, and its applied timing, requirements, targets,
ejection locations and remedy measures remain uncertain. These have all been
the source of public doubts over the police’s arbitrary behavior in law
enforcement. Upon investigation and subsequent follow-up by the Control
Yuan, the Taipei City Police Department amended the Operating Procedures
for Execution of Prevention Treatment Against Mass Assemblies and
Treatment Upon the Protester’s Refusal to Disperse on August 14, 2018.
Meanwhile, the Department also invited the former United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, Maina Kiai, a
human rights defense attorney, to share his experience in dealing with
assemblies and marches.
Article 22 Freedom of Association
Freedom of Association and Right to Join a Labor Union
131. After restrictions on nationality of the Labor Union Act were relaxed on May
1, 2011, Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union became the first labor union formed
by migrant workers in the nation. After the recent Nanfang’ao Bridge collapse
incident (the port dock bridge collapsed on October 1, 2019, crushing three
fishing boats and killing 6 Filippino and Indonesian fishermen as well as
seriously injuring two), the Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union reportedly was
suppressed. This demonstrates that the authorities lacked measures to guide
migrant workers in forming their labor unions and assisting their development.
The authorities fail to take into account the barrier in language and words
encountered by migrant workers, and provide no translation of official
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