I. Preamble I. Preamble 1. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Taiwan, which began operations on August 1, 2020, is an independent body dedicated to human rights protection and promotion. In accordance with its statutory mandate, the NHRC hereby provides an independent opinion on the Fourth CEDAW Report submitted by the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2022; the implementation of some substantive articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), especially on issues that have not been improved despite repeated recommendations by the International Review Committee (IRC) in 2009, 2014, and 2018; and on other inadequate legal protections.
2. In addition to referencing investigative reports by the Control Yuan, the NHRC held two expert consultation meetings, seven meetings with civil society organizations, and three meetings with government agencies between December 2021 and February 2022. It wrote to 14 government agencies to request explanations and statistical information in order to understand whether the legal protection for women’s rights and interests is adequate, whether there are any deficiencies in policy implementation, and the actions and difficulties faced by government ¯3¯