Since 2000, the government has professed a policy of gradually
abolishing the death penalty. In 2009, it further ratified the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), and adopted them as domestic laws. Taiwan’s
policy of gradual abolition followed the spirit of ICCPR Article
6. From 2006 to 2009, the country did not carry out any
executions. Restarting executions in 2010 was controversial
because, according to Article 6, Clause 6 of the ICCPR: “Nothing
in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the
abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the
present Covenant.” A country that already had a moratorium in
place and was ratifying the ICCPR should be moving toward its
goal of abolition with more active and concrete policies.
However, the government’s actions have been completely contrary
to the spirit of the ICCPR. Civic groups that watch the
government’s implementation of the ICCPR and I