Taking Efforts to Implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- Date：
- Source：Immigration Planning Section
- Hit：1806
- Updated date：2024-11-19
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter referred to as ICERD) was adopted and opened for signature and ratification by the United Nations General Assembly on December 21st, 1965, and entered into force on January 4th, 1969. The ICERD had previously been signed and ratified by the Republic of China (Taiwan) on March 31st, 1966 and November 14th, 1970, respectively. It was deposited on December 10th, 1970. R.O.C. (Taiwan)’s ratification of the ICERD entered into force on January 9th, 1971. Based on the decision made by the 33rd meeting of The Human Rights Advisory Committee under the Presidential Office on September 21st, 2018, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) has been working on implementing the ICERD and preparing for the first national report which will be reviewed internationally.
Progress
1. Formulating the ICERD Action Plan
The ICERD Action Plan was approved by the Executive Yuan on May 8th, 2010 and became the foundation to formulate relevant measures and to implement the ICERD accordingly. According to the ICERD Action Plan, the first National Report is planned to be issued within three years after the launch of the plan, and the following National Report will be issued every other 4 years with an international reviewing meeting being held. The main aspects of the action plan include,
a. Reviewing the laws and regulations (taking action to review the laws and regulations)
b. Education and training (Train-the-Trainer, producing training material, and training staffs of government agencies)
c. Preparing for the National Report (taking action on training the staff for writing the National Report, drafting the National Report, and preparing for international reviewing)
d. Promotion (setting up the website, making promotion)
2. Establishing the ICERD Task Force
a. The Executive Yuan also approved the revised Regulation Governing the Setting of Human Trafficking Prevention and Racial Discrimination Elimination Coordination Committee (the Committee) on May 8th, 2010. A Minister without Portfolio acts concurrently as the Convener of the Committee and the Deputy Minister of the Interior acts concurrently as the Deputy Convener. There are representatives from the Judicial Yuan, other relevant Ministries, scholars and experts appointed to serve as members of the Committee concurrently.
b. The ICERD Task Force, under the direction of the Committee, acts to supervise the execution of the related measures, conduct research and provide consultation.
3. Current progress
a. In 2020, the NIA outsourced the research on reviewing laws and regulations to see if there are any inconsistencies with the ICERD, and concurrently outsourced the compiling of basic training materials. The Review Taskforce was formed accordingly in 2020 and has convened 8 meetings from November 2020 to 2022 to review the laws and regulations that are inconsistent with the ICERD and listed by aforementioned research. The result was reported to the 43th meeting of the Committee under the Executive Yuan and has been constantly reviewed on a rolling basis.
b. The NIA convened 4 Train-the-Trainer events in 2021 and made the digital learning materials available on the e-learning website and NIA website. The NIA also took reference from other countries and compiled teaching materials for improving skills in writing the first National Report. The NIA has convened 2 training events and afterwards, compiled all materials provided by the relevant authorities and finished the template for further reference.
c. The NIA and relevant authorities started writing the first National Report in 2022. The NIA held an inter-ministry editing meeting in July, 4 NGOs consulting meetings between August and September, a finalization consulting meeting in October, and eventually reported the National Report to the Committee for confirmation. The first National Report has been completed and released to the public on December 14th.
d. The NIA has completed the translation of the first National Report into English and formed the International Review Committee (IRC) consisting of 4 members in June 2023. The IRC has reviewed the initial National Report and parallel reports by the NGOs from August to November 2023, and has submitted the List of Issues in late November. The government has responded to the List of Issues by February 2024.
e. The international review convention was held from April 22nd to 23rd 2024. Government agencies and NGO representatives both participated in the review convention, and NGO representatives fully expressed their demands and exchanged opinions with the IRC. On the morning of April 26, 2024, a press conference was held in the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel to issue the concluding observations and recommendations of the initial report. 89 points of observations and recommendations were put forward by the IRC and the interministerial work allocation meeting was held on June 24th followingly. The implementation and assessment initiative of the concluding observations and recommendations of the initial national report on ICERD was approved by the 47th meeting of the committee to assess and track the progress accordingly.
Conclusion
The NIA, under the supervision and assistance of the ICERD Task Force, will implement ICERD step by step under the guidelines of the ICERD Action Plan.