Lawmakers expect to submit a comprehensive anti-discrimination law to Taiwan’s legislature by next year, in a move that officials say will strengthen deficiencies in the 20 different laws that the country currently has to reduce inequality.

LTN reported Cabinet officials said on June 23 that seminars and public hearings have already been held, and a draft of the law will be sent to the Legislative Yuan by next year for review. The law is part of the National Human Rights Action Plan launched in May 2022 that targets Indigenous peoples, the LGBTI community, homeless people, migrant workers, senior citizens, women, children, disabled individuals, refugees, and other vulnerable groups.

A Cabinet official said Taiwan’s 20 different anti-discrimination laws have different provisions for addressing criminal acts, and that some are clearer than others. The official said that the planned comprehensive law will address these discrepancies and cover areas not yet regulated.

The comprehensive anti-discrimination law proposal comes amid multiple high-profile incidences of discrimination directed toward Indigenous peoples, women, sexual minorities, and others being publicised in Taiwan’s media, including one incident in which students used homophones of racial slurs for school displays, joking about them publicly.

The official said that particular incident highlighted the need for further discussions about what constitutes discriminatory speech, and if and how that should be regulated.

Despite the proposals, Taiwan-based labour advocate Roy Ngerng said labour and wage protection are still needed so that Taiwanese can meet their basic needs. “It is really good to ensure gender wage equality and migrant worker protections, but if overall labour rights aren’t improved, they will still be discriminated (against),” he said.

Ngerng echoed comments from labour advocate and international human rights scholar Dr Bonny Ling who wrote earlier in June that Taiwan needed to ensure its domestic labour laws were consistent with international labour laws to prevent forced labour. Ling said that Taiwan’s current labour laws make migrants in particular vulnerable to mistreatment.

According to the UN (of which Taiwan is not a member), “comprehensive anti-discrimination laws translate international legal commitments to equality into actionable and enforceable rights under national law. In the absence of such frameworks, discrimination is likely to persist on myriad grounds and in all areas of life.”

Many countries’ anti-discrimination legislation is made up of multiple separate laws, though some, like Britain, have opted to bring different legislation targeting discrimination together under one comprehensive law, as Taiwan plans to do.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4929017

Category: Taiwan