The Problems with the Incorporation of International Human Rights Law in Taiwan

Though Taiwan is not a member state of the United Nations, it is determined to incorporate some international human rights treaties in the same way a usual state does. In 2009, the Government made every effort to “ratify” the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women into the domestic legal system in accordance with the “treaty obligation.” Unsurprisingly, none of the instruments of ratification were successfully deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Two years later, the Government submitted its initial reports under the two Covenants to a group of ten international independent experts for review in Taiwan. In this connection, the Government and people of Taiwan have come to recognize that international human rights law constitutes an integral part of the legal system of Taiwan. With this recognition, the courts have occasionally applied or referred to the two Covenants in their decisions and judgments in spite of the doubts and criticism as to the validity of the international human rights treaties’ rules. Apparently, the determination to internalize international human rights law into the domestic legal system of Taiwan is beyond any doubt; however, several problems have emerged subsequent to the failure of completing the process of ratification under international law. The problems may be summarized as follows. First, the question concerning the capacity to conclude international treaties and the nature of the legal effect as regards the unilateral act by Taiwan in the context of international law. Second, the status and effect of international human rights treaties in the domestic legal order of Taiwan, Third, there are questions concerning the method of incorporating international human rights treaties by enacting the Implementing Act, which was specifically designed to create the binding force of the treaty law within the jurisdiction of Taiwan. Fourth, the practice applied by the courts or in constitutional interpretation as regards the rights and freedoms in the human rights treaties. Without proper theory and adequate practices concerning how to incorporate international human rights treaties in Taiwan, international human rights law is nothing but an unexpected and unwelcome international law that has caused an unpleasant disturbance in the domestic legal order. That said, this chapter intends to elucidate the legal implications of these questions and the problems therein and to deliberate a possible solution for the judiciary to take the rights and fundamental freedoms seriously.