TAIWAN 'IMPROVING' BUT CALL FOR ABOLITION

the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) said the country was "improving but not quite there" and urged its government to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. On the eve of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, the organisation urged the government "to actively move towards abolition of the death penalty to demonstrate its commitment to join the rest of the world" in the trend against executions. The organisation said in a statement that the death penalty situation in Taiwan had improved since president Chen Sui-Bian made a commitment in 2000 to move towards abolition. Following the end of martial law in 1987, the country had reduced the number of crimes punishable by death to 52. TAEDP said the number of executions had reduced from 38 in 1997 to 0 in 2006, although as of October 2007 there were still 28 inmates on death row. “Taiwan has not had any executions for almost two years, since the end of 2005. This is an opportune time for the Taiwanese authorities to announce a moratorium as a first step towards total abolition by refining relevant laws and devising supportive measures. Taiwan should not be absent from this global movement.”