LGBTQ Rights
Within East Asia, Taiwan is considered to be a pioneer in the field of Human Rights. This is particularly evident in Taiwan’s progress on marriage equality. On May 24th, 2017, the Taiwanese government declared then current marriage law as unconstitutional on the basis of discrimination against LGBTQ people. Parliament was given two years, and if the government did not act and failed to include same sex couples, the existing marriage provision would be extended to LGBTQ couples as of May 24th, 2019. However, this two year period was not a smooth transition into equal rights. In 2018, public opposition resulted in a referendum to gauge Taiwan’s public opinion of same-sex marriage and marriage equality. This in turn resulted in the introduction of two new bills that essentially offered recognition of partnership, rather than marriage. However, Taiwan lawmakers objected to both bills, voting in favor of the initial bill that established a path for marriage equality as of May 24th, 2019. While this is a definite step in marriage equality, there are still inequalities considering LGBTQ couples cannot adopt children, outside of step-child adoption where one spouse already has a child, as well as transnational gay marriage being legal however only if the foreign spouse is from a country where gay marriage has already been legalized.
Migrant and Indigenous Rights
However there are still improvements to be made in terms of migrant and Indigenous rights. Following an outbreak of Covid-19 within the migrant worker community in Miaoli country, the county government issued an order that confined all migrant workers to their living spaces with an exception during working hours. An order that impacted over 22,000 people, this act limited the migrants’ freedom of movement. As for Indigenous rights, although the Supreme Administrative Court revoked the extension of the Asia Cement Corporation’s mining permit, which was on the Taroko people’s traditional land, there was still concern surrounding existing legislation still not providing adequate protection for Indigenous people’s rights against mining and other commercial activities.
Sources:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/east-asia/taiwan/report-taiwan/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/17/lovewins-taiwan
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/24/inclusive-marriage-taiwan-issue-dignity-and-equality
https://borgenproject.org/top-facts-about-human-rights-in-taiwan/