Public Defender of the National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsman of Uruguay Ms. Mirtha Guianze visited the Control Yuan (CY) on July 1, 2015. She met with CY President Dr. Chang Po-ya and the two sides agreed to establish a platform promoting bilateral cooperation on human rights work. Ms. Guianze also delivered a speech at the CY plenary meeting on Uruguayan ombudsman work.
In her opening remarks, President Chang noted that human rights protection is a common value accepted universally as well as a task requiring transnational efforts. Therefore, an exchange platform should be established between Taiwan and Uruguay.
Ms. Guianze said that she felt impressed by the CY’s high constitutional status and powers of checks and balances. She noted that the Uruguayan ombudsman office was just established in 2012, so the CY’s long-term practical experience is worth learning from.
During the meeting, Ms. Guianze also presented a letter of invitation to attend the 20th annual conference of the Federación Iberoamericana del Ombudsman (FIO), which will be held in Uruguay in the coming November, to President Chang, and expressed that she looks forward to receiving the CY delegation in her country.
In her speech, Ms. Guianze introduced the work of the Uruguayan ombudsman. In the Q&A session, several CY members posed some follow-up questions regarding the appointment of Uruguayan ombudsmen, the annual budget of the office of the ombudsman, whether investigators are assigned to ombudsmen, the handling of complaints from remote area, anti-torture work, and relations with the Parliament. The lively discussion delayed the scheduled time of speech by nearly one hour.
The CY has regularly attended the FIO annual conference as an observer since 1999. It has built strong friendship ties with Latin American counterparts. The CY has also signed bilateral agreements with the human rights ombudsman offices of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay and Nicaragua.
Ms. Guianze, at the invitation of the CY, visited Asia for the first time. In addition to learning about the CY’s human rights protection work during this trip, she also visited the Taipei Prison and Chi Hsien Sheltered Workshop to learn about the practice of human rights and minority protection in Taiwan.