ABSTRACT
In 1984, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, led by pro-independence activists, was established. Nonetheless, after martial law was lifted in 1987, political organizing and human rights activism flourished, helping to push Taiwan toward democracy. However, concern about continuing human rights violations, coupled with the fact that since it lost its seat in the United Nations (UN) to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1971, Taiwan has stood outside the UN human rights system, have led people in Taiwan to continue their struggle for human rights. They advocate the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission, the draft proposal for which we translate here. Since the end of martial law in 1987, as the constitutional protection of various human rights has continued to thaw, the human rights situation in Taiwan has in fact seen considerable improvement. The UN began in 1978 to more urgently encourage each state to use constitutional or legislative means to establish national human rights commissions.
