The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) joins others around the world in regretting that the Presidential Office of Taiwan accepted the resignation of former Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng on 11 March amid political pressure against the moratorium of the death penalty. ADPAN urges the Taiwanese government to maintain the moratorium and to take a lead towards abolition among Asian countries.
In 2001, the Taiwanese Government announced a policy to gradually abolish the death penalty. The number of executions every year since then had been on the decline. In 2006, mandatory death sentences were eliminated, and no executions have been carried out since the same year. This is in keeping with the global trend toward abolition evident in UN General Assembly resolutions in 2007 and 2008 calling for a global moratorium on executions as a first step toward abolition.
由世界反死刑聯盟（World Coalition Against Death Penalty, WCADP）的執行委員湯馬士‧萊斯 (Thomas H. Speedy Rice) 教授 、亞洲反死刑網絡（Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network, ADPAN）的執行委員田鎖麻衣子 (Maiko Tagusari) 律師及國際特赦組織（Amnesty International, AI）研究部主任馬禮誠 (Mark Allison) 先生所組成的國際代表團以及台灣廢除死刑推動聯盟（Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty,TAEDP）副召集人吳志光教授、黃文雄先生、李念祖律師及林欣怡執行長一行人，於6月18日（星期三）拜會了馬英九總統、司法院賴英照院長、立法院曾永權副院長。代表團此行的目的在於向台灣朝野傳達國際間對過去兩年半來所達成的停止死刑執行的成就，表達敬意及提出建議。 他們非常期待台灣能夠在短期內廢除死刑，以做為其他還有死刑國家的模範；在廢除死刑前，也希望台灣能夠明確且正式的宣示停止死刑執行 (moratorium)；此外，這些國際代表團成員更希望立法院能夠修法減少判處死刑的條文、並且批准公民及政治權利國際公約(ICCPR) ；當然，對於被害人的聲音、被害人的加強保護都是應該要更注重的。
【說明】 由世界反死刑聯盟（World Coalition Against Death Penalty, WCADP）、亞洲反死刑網絡（Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network, ADPAN）及國際特赦組織（Amnesty International, AI）所組成的國際代表團，於6月17日（星期二）～6月18日（星期三）訪問台灣。代表團此行的目的在於向台灣朝野傳達國際間對於廢除死刑議題的重視。相較於美國、日本等實際上仍在執行死刑的民主國家，台灣在廢除死刑的進程上受到國際人權團體的矚目和期待。代表團成員希望於這次訪問中能拜會馬英九總統、司法院賴英照院長、立法院曾永權副院長、法務部王清峰部長及相關單位，向中華民國政府說明國際廢除死刑運動的現況與展望及表達國際社會對台灣的期待。
The Asian NGO Summit to Abolish the Death Penalty, held from June 13 to June 15, has successfully concluded and has achieved consensus on a number of issues. The Asian NGO Summit was organized by the Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN) and included invitees from Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Britain, France and the United States. In total, 25 regional or international NGO representatives participated. At the summit, the main issues included inter-regional cooperation over abolishing the death penalty, the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the impact of Islamic Law on the death penalty and UN Resolution 62/149, which was adopted on 18 December 2007.
PRESS RELEASE
Anti death penalty campaigners urge the National Peoples’ Congress to take concrete measures to abolish the death penalty in China
Embargo date: Midnight GMT
27 February 2008
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) and Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) are publicising today an Open Letter to the China National People’s Congress (NPC) which will be meeting on 5-16 March 2008.
The Open Letter calls for the Chinese legislators to take concrete measures towards the abolition of the death penalty in China.
