The legislature hosted the 2016 Taiwan European Human Rights Seminar on Tuesday. European representatives in Taiwan attended to discuss human rights issues such as the death penalty.
Madeleine Majorenko, the head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan (EETO), said that Taiwan has progressed much in its democracy and human rights. But she said she hopes political leaders can discuss the death penalty which she said is an ineffective and irreversible punishment. She hopes Taiwan’s political leaders can discuss the policy and delay carrying out sentences before the death penalty is abolished.
Lord Purvis, a member of the UK House of Lords, said that Taiwan’s democracy is the pride of Asia. He said he knows that the death penalty is a politically sensitive issue but he hopes lawmakers can balance the various opinions on the policy.
University of Nottingham Professor of Comparative and International Penal Law Dirk Van Zyl Smit said that the death penalty is a difficult issue. But he said giving people the right to live shows that there is hope that people can change for the better.
The legislature’s Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia said that the legislature would be open-minded in hosting discussions of various human rights issues.