A Year of Human Rights Covenants: Great Leap for Taiwan
National Human Rights Commission, Taiwan
During the course of the investigation, the NHRC
political prisoners who were directly transferred
The investigative report led to amending
the law such that it is now possible to
rehabilitate persons condemned by extrajudicial administrative acts
Guidelines for Cracking down on Hooligans during
After the publication of the human rights investigative
灣 省 戒 嚴 時 期 取 締 流 氓 辦 法 ), such as Mr. Huang
Yuan added Article 6-1 to the Act on Promoting
found that Mr. Lin’s was not the only case. Based
on surviving documents, there were at least 25
to Dapeng Farm or Liuqiu Island based on the
the Period of Martial Law in Taiwan Province ( 臺
Hua ( 黃華 ) and Mr. Chang Che-chou ( 張則周 ) who
accompanied members of the NHRC on its visit to
Liuqiu Island.
The first investigative report that the NHRC
published, on July 14, 2021, deemed that handling
political dissidents under martial law as hooligans
requiring reformation violated the due process in
the protection of personal liberty which is set out in
both the Constitution and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and as such
is a major breach of human rights. To reject a
complaint on the grounds that the matter is not one
of a wrongful judicial judgment is at variance with
the spirit of transitional justice. The investigative
report specifically recommended amendments to
the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice ( 促進轉型
正義條例 ).
report on the cases of Lin and others, the Legislative
Transitional Justice on May 17, 2022:
Dispositions or conducts done by government
agencies or public officials in violation of the liberal
democratic constitutional order resulting in the
infringement of an individual's life, personal freedom
or ownership of property that occurred during the
period of authoritarian rule shall be determined
by TJC, acting ex officio or upon application, to be
wrong in order to redress administrative wrongs.
The MOJ immediately accepted Mr. Lin’s grievance
in accordance with the amendment and, after
deliberation, passed the first redress for an extra-
judicial administrative judgment under martial law
on March 8, 2023. Apart from publishing the results
in the Executive Yuan Gazette and on the MOJ
website, the MOJ also requested the competent
authorities to erase Mr. Lin’s criminal record as
quickly as possible.
This case of an extremely late rehabilitation for an extrajudicial administrative act during the martial law era
eventually closed through the NHRC’s persistent effort.
NHRC Classroom
Human Rights Investigation
In accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Organic Act, the NHRC may investigate
incidents involving torture, human rights violations, or various forms of discrimination in
accordance with its authority or in response to petitions from the general public. To comply with
the powers and responsibilities of NHRIs as specified in the Paris Principles and to provide a
reference for members to exercise their powers as stipulated in Article 2 of the Organic Act, the
“NHRC’s powers and functions” ( 國家人權委員會職權之行使 ) was drafted as Chapter V-1 to
the partial revision of the Control Act ( 監察法部分條文修正草案 ) to stipulate the types, methods,
and procedures of investigation and the need to submit an investigative report afterwards. The
draft has been submitted to the relevant agencies for review.
National Human Rights Commission 2022 Annual Report
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