Taiwan

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to education in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Children with disabilities do not have appropriate educational materials or support for their needs, such as adequate bathroom facilities
• Children with disabilities often do not have the financial resources to access basic education, such as paying for caregivers and accessible transport
• Some schools refuse to accept students with disabilities, students who require special education, those who have dropped out, or those who have been involved in the justice system
• People without proper legal status can send their children to primary schools but the children are not eligible to take entrance exams for secondary or higher education
• People in remote areas
• Children in juvenile detention centres
• There is a gap in access to education between urban and rural areas
• Migrant workers

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to food in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• The social welfare system does not provide a healthy variety of food to people who are vulnerable or homeless
• Residents in rural areas have poor access to sufficient good quality food
• Prison inmates, who often have to rely on family support for sufficient food
• Inflation impacts people's access to good quality food
• Older people, especially those who live alone
• Migrant workers, due to their cultural and religious traditions

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to health in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Conservative groups prevent adequate gender and sex education
• Economically disadvantaged people
• People in full or partial detention do not have sufficient financial resources for medical treatment
• People without legal status do not have access to health insurance
• People who suffer from rare diseases lack access to expensive medication
• People with disabilities experience difficulties with medical check-ups, such as hospitals lacking basic equipment like weighing scales for wheelchair users
• Stateless people
• The government lacks data on the impact of poverty on health, and on the level of facilities in hospitals that are accessible to people with disabilities
• Students with Chinese nationality
• Residents in Wanhua District
• Migrant workers

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to housing in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Housing prices are unaffordable
• There is insufficient social housing, especially in convenient locations
• People with economic challenges, since the rights of tenants are not well protected
• People who have unknowingly occupied state-owned lands, when these places are considered long-term illegal occupations and are reclaimed by the government
• Landlords discriminate against people with disabilities, single parents, people with an unstable income, older people living alone, and women who are victims of domestic violence
• Migrant workers, especially those living with their employers, which commonly results in a lack of privacy, and sometimes physical or sexual violence
• Factory workers, as some are required to live in dormitories that are often overcrowded
• Fisher folks are required to live on fishing vessels

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest and detention by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Most people accused of serious crimes are detained pending trial, regardless of any possibility of them fleeing or hiding evidence. Judges often rush to sentencing, especially in murder cases
• People with serious mental illnesses

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to disappearance by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Some young people fell victim to criminal scams leading to their disappearance; the government is not doing enough to prevent this
• Foreign workers with unclear legal status
• There are reports of the Chinese Communist Party causing the disappearance of Taiwanese people
• Many Taiwanese people are tricked into going to Cambodia or Myanmar, falling victim to human trafficking, and being forced to take part in criminal activities
• There are reports of disappearances being carried out by anarchists

Expert respondents did not provide any specific information about who is especially vulnerable to violations of this right.

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to extrajudicial killing by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• There are reports of police chasing criminals and mistakenly killing them
• There have been incidents of deaths in prison due to mistreatment
• Military personnel from particular cultural backgrounds, although the conditions experienced by military personnel have improved overall

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to assembly and association by the government or its agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• If certain groups are ordered to shut down and they refuse, their leaders are sentenced to imprisonment, including groups for minors, people without nationality, and people who have been sentenced or determined by security trials to require guardianship
• People without Taiwanese nationality, including migrant workers and refugees
• There are administrative barriers to getting permission for assemblies, and the government can add restrictions if it suspects that an assembly could affect social stability
• Students who are minors are not permitted to protest without consent from their guardians
• There are restrictions on the location of assemblies, such as a ban on protests close to government institutions
• The attitude of the police can make protesters feel unsafe, especially people from ethnic minorities
• Many professionals and workers in certain industries are forced to join the relevant association, or it is impossible to work in the industry

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to opinion and expression by government agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Residents in rural areas find it difficult to access the Internet and express their opinions online
• Prison inmates are not allowed access to the internet
• People under 18 years of age
• People who are illiterate
• The National Communication Commission proposed a controversial draft law on Digital Intermediary Services, which was criticised for possible comprehensive monitoring of online speech
• People who opposed the government's policy on Covid-19
• Migrant workers
• People without Taiwanese nationality have fewer means to appeal for their rights and needs

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their political participation by the government or its agents in 2022, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• People with Covid-19 could not vote, especially those who were ordered to quarantine
• People who are subject to physical detention, especially prison inmates; there are reports of prison inmates being unable to vote due to prison guards' reluctance to set up ballots
• People under 20 are not allowed to vote
• People with disabilities and older people often encounter difficulties in accessing voting locations
• Socio-economically vulnerable groups, such as Indigenous people, and people who are homeless
• People without Taiwanese nationality
• People whose actual residential location is different from where they are registered, especially Indigenous people and students studying abroad, as Taiwan does not allow absentee voting
• People with disabilities can experience difficulties participating in public affairs as many political documents are not published in an easy-to-understand text form