Taiwan also managed to keep up with this trend. In 2005 , the Freedom of
Government Information Law was passed and took effect, to “establish the insti-
tution for the publication of government information; facilitate people’s sharing
and fair utilization of government information; protect people’s right to know;
further people’s understanding, trust and oversight of public affairs; and
encourage public participation in democracy.”^67
Proposal for a national human rights commission
Despite all the progressive developments, the establishment of a National Human
Rights Commission still remains unresolved. With the development of inter-
national human rights law, human rights have become the main focus of the
global community. Major human rights treaties have been signed by most states
around the world, and national human rights commissions were established by
those states as an important mechanism to address this issue.
68
It was not until the
end of the 1990 s in Taiwan, when some NGOs started advocacy, that the idea of
creating a national human rights commission began to arise. It is a grassroots
initiative.
69
In 1999 , NGOs led by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights
established a Coalition for the Promotion of a National Human Rights Commis-
sion in Taiwan. It was stated that the Paris Principles and the experiences of other
countries should be consulted in designing a national human rights commission,
and the principles of independence, effectiveness, and reflection of the diversity of
society be also affirmed.
In the year 2000 , the NGOs began drafting a bill for a National Human Rights
Commission. However, despite the seeming political popularity of having a
National Human Rights Commission, disputes arose concerning the status and
functions of the commission. The Executive Yuan opposed the idea of establishing
an administrative commission subordinate to the Presidential Office; it only agreed
with the president setting an advisory committee in charge of providing
information concerning the issue of human rights. The Control Yuan was also
critical of the commission’s quasi-judicial investigative functions; it argued that
the duty to protect human rights lay with itself, and that the establishment of the
National Human Rights Commission with such ultra vires powers would
be unnecessary and even unconstitutional. Up to this date, the dispute around
establishing the National Human Rights Commission remains irresolvable.
(^67) Freedom of Government Information Law, Art. 1 , available athttp://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/
LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=I 0020026.
(^68) Concerning the latest developments in national human rights commissions, see Richard
Carver, “A new answer to an old question: national human rights institutions and the
domestication of international law” ( 2010 ) 10 Human Rights Law Review 1.
(^69) For more detailed facts on the following developments, see Fort Fu-Te Liao, “Establishing
a national human rights commission in Taiwan: the role of NGOs and challenges ahead”
( 2001 ) 2 Asia Pacific Journal on Human Rights and Law 90.