The EU and Taiwan held their seventh human rights consultations in Taipei on Wednesday 5 March, reaffirming their commitment to human rights, democracy and the Rule of law.
Discussions focused in particular on the extension of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy (2020-2024) until 2027, recent human rights developments in Taiwan and Taiwan’s response to the Constitutional Court ruling of 2024, which recognised the serious shortcomings in the application of the death penalty.
As the death penalty still applies to a number of offences, the EU has urged Taiwan to “apply a de facto moratorium, to guarantee legal and procedural safeguards and to pursue a consistent policy towards the full abolition of the death penalty” in the country.
The rights of migrant workers, gender equality, LGBTI rights and the rights of the elderly were also addressed.
The meeting, co-chaired by the Deputy Head of Division for China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Mongolia, Nicoletta Pusterla and by the Taiwanese Minister without Portfolio, Lin Ming-hsin, was followed by an exchange of views with members of Executive Yuan’s Human Rights Protection and Promotion Task Force. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)