This thesis examines Taiwan’s human rights development from 2000 until 2010. It looks at and compares the policies and action of Presidents Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou in terms of three indicators of human rights: the implementation of the international human rights treaties (ICCPR and ICESCR), the establishment of a national human rights commission and the status of the death penalty. The case of Australia and its position in relation to the three key areas of this human rights study are analyzed for comparative purposes. Additionally, important historical human rights milestones and the beginnings of Taiwan’s democratization are introduced by way of an overview but the focus of this thesis is on the events of the last decade. In doing so, the overall aim of this study is to assess whether Taiwan has achieved its stated goal of becoming a human rights state.

In 1991, the first major international gathering on the issue of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) was held from the 7 to the 9 October in Paris during the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights under United Nations (UN) auspices. The outcome of such meeting is the Paris Principles adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Commission Resolution 1992/54 of 1992 and the General Assembly Resolution 48/134 of 1993. The Paris Principles relate to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of human rights and ‘have become the benchmark against which national human rights institutions are measured'. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Solomon Dersso of the Faculty of Law, University of Addis-Ababa. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM