Responding to the 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released Thursday by the U.S. Department of State, which gave a positive evaluation to Taiwan's overall situation, the Executive Yuan on May 25 pledged to safeguard the civil rights of its citizens and ramp up the fight against domestic violence and corruption.
The report states that Taiwan enjoys fair freedom of speech and press, and has an independent judiciary and effective government administration to guarantee equality for all. However, violence against children and women and corruption remained prevalent human rights problems last year, according to the report.
Concerning the issue of domestic violence, the Executive Yuan said it has already undertaken many countermeasures. A domestic violence prevention network is in place to protect women and children, for instance, and the implementation results of several laws have been carefully reviewed (including the Domestic Violence Protection Act, the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act). Meanwhile, standard operating procedures for dealing with sex offenders have been established, along with mechanisms to counsel, treat and monitor criminals.
As to the problem of corruption, the Executive Yuan emphasized that the administration is committed to building a clean and capable government, having initiated vigorous ethics reforms over the past three years. These include formulating the National Integrity Building Action Plan to investigate instances of corruption; establishing the Central Integrity Commission; enforcing the Ethics Directions for Civil Servants; amending the Anti-Corruption Act and the Money Laundering Control Act to prevent bribery and cross-border money laundering; and founding the Agency Against Corruption under the Ministry of Justice as the main organ dedicated to fighting graft and corruption.
The Executive Yuan further pointed out that Taiwan's grade in the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International was among the most improved in the world, demonstrating that the government's anti-corruption reforms have yielded solid results. Going forward, the government will continue to strengthen its comprehensive framework for enforcing anti-corruption laws and increase administrative transparency to bolster citizens' trust in the government.