Taiwan’s government has opened a new department dedicated to defending human rights and pushing forward transitional justice. Senior politicians attended Monday’s launch of the new division, which takes on some of the responsibilities of Taiwan’s defunct transitional justice commission.
It will also work alongside Taiwan’s existing National Human Rights Commission.
Cabinet official Li Meng-yen called the opening of the department “the start of a new stage” in the country’s fight against injustice.
The department will play an important role in implementing Taiwan’s new national human rights plan. Through the new initiative, the government will review its housing strategy and its refugee policy, among a range of other priorities.
Transitional justice will also fall partly under the new department’s remit. From 2018 till earlier this year, the transitional justice commission worked to clear the criminal records of political prisoners from Taiwan’s martial law era. It also declassified sensitive documents, as well as identifying and removing symbols of authoritarianism.
Now that the commission has disbanded, the new human rights department will work with Taiwan’s premier to act on the commission’s recommendations.