Still a "Regulatory" Act on Assemblies and Parades That Merely Whitewashes the Issue ~ Our Stern Statement on the Executive Yuan's Draft Amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act

Regarding the "Draft Amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act" recently passed and announced by the Executive Yuan at its Cabinet meeting on December 4, we believe it is merely a cosmetic prop for President Ma Ying-jeou to "superficially" fulfill his campaign promises, while in substance retaining its essence of "suppressing the people's freedom of expression and regulating the fundamental human rights of assembly and parade." To prevent the Executive Yuan from continuously deceiving the general public with the lie that it has "changed from a permit system to a notification system and implemented the constitutional protection of fundamental rights," and to pierce the false mask of executive power, we hereby issue the following stern statement:

1. Civil society groups, legal professional associations, and academic groups that have long focused on the amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act proposed the draft amendment of the "Assembly and Parade Protection Act" last month, listing nine specific demands, including "clarifying the state's obligation to protect assemblies and parades," "abolishing restricted zones," "abolishing the system of ordering dissolution," and "establishing the obligation of law enforcement personnel to proactively identify themselves." Regarding these nine specific demands, the Executive Yuan's draft amendment only adopted the item of "deleting special criminal penalties." As for the other eight major demands, it either turned a blind eye and ignored them or used loopholes to circumvent them, continuing to pursue the true purpose of suppressing the people's freedom of expression. We not only find the content of the Executive Yuan's draft unacceptable, but we are also deeply distressed by the Executive Yuan's deceptive and perfunctory attitude.
2. Furthermore, although the Executive Yuan's draft deletes the provisions on special criminal penalties, under the guise of a "notification system," it harbors various broad regulatory measures that lack effective relief mechanisms, such as "imposing fines for failing to notify," "allowing administrative agencies to still restrict and prohibit assemblies even if notified," and "allowing administrative agencies to still order the dissolution of assemblies even if notified, failing which they will be dispersed and excluded through 'coercive force'." In addition, the legislative amendment method of "renaming" so-called "restricted zones" to "safety distances" fully exposes the essence of the Executive Yuan's draft as at best "the same oppressive evil spirit with a changed appearance." Faced with such crude legislative amendment content, we completely fail to understand how the Executive Yuan can brazenly claim in the general explanation of the draft that this amendment is intended to "implement the constitutional protection of the people's various fundamental rights"?
3. From the attitude of the Legislative Yuan in handling the amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act over the past period, we can clearly see that the ruling party has deliberately avoided substantive deliberation on the amendment versions already proposed by its own legislators, with no purpose other than waiting to convey instructions from higher authorities through the "Executive Yuan's draft." We recognize that the content of this amendment by the Executive Yuan not only once again testifies to the lack of reform sincerity among those holding power, but also portends that the final legislative outcome is very likely to deviate from social expectations and our demands. Despite this, we must solemnly appeal: Legislators (especially the Democratic Progressive Party caucus, which has proposed a relatively progressive version, and the Kuomintang legislators who participated in Chu Feng-chih's (朱鳳芝) proposal) should actively respond to our demands, reject the Executive Yuan's "Regulatory Act," and amend the current bad law into a true "Assembly and Parade Protection Act"!

Alliance for Reforming the Bad Assembly and Parade Law

Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union, High School Students Rights Promotion Association, Anti-Fake Rating Alliance, Rites of Spring Caring Mutual Aid Association, Judicial Reform Foundation, Taipei Bar Association, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Tongzhi Human Rights Association, Taiwan Law Society, Taiwan International Workers' Association, Taiwan Green Party, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, National Teachers' Association, National Alliance of Parents Associations, Tongzhi Legislative Action Alliance, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, Shing-Yaw Workers Center, Youth Labor 95 Alliance, NCCU Seedlings Club, Education Publicization Coalition, etc.

Co-signing Organizations

Homemakers Education Foundation, Taiwan Labor Front, Amnesty International Taiwan, Taiwan Corporate Social Responsibility Association, Association of Taiwan Journalists, Media Watch, Taiwan Media Reform Action Network, Taiwan Environmental Action Network, Cheng Nan-jung Foundation, Taiwan Indigenous Policy Association, Dr. Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation, Association of Taiwanese Immigrants in Mainland China, Green Citizens' Action Alliance, Awakening Foundation, Referendum on Fourth Nuclear Power Plant Promotion Association, Pioneering Foundation, Tamsui Historical Field Studio (Organizations continuously signing on)