The importance the new government attaches to human rights is evident from the frequency with which senior officials highlight the issue.

In a press conference on July 31, 2000, President Chen urged "a committed effort to make the Republic of China a new model of human rights in the 21st century."

In his address to the new advisory committee on human rights on October 24, the president described human rights as one of the pillars of a modern country.

On the same occasion, Vice President Annette Lu stressed the universal nature of human rights.

In his New Year message, President Chen set the promotion of human rights norms as one of his administration's six major goals.

Since then, the Ministry of Justice has produced a draft version of the Basic Law On The Guarantees of Human Rights. The bill includes sections devoted to the rights of women, children, laborers, the physically and mentally challenged, senior citizens and aborigines.

To better protect Taiwan society against any future deterioration of the human rights environment, human rights instruction is being incorporated into the nine-year compulsory education system.