For the ninth time, Geneva’s HRC heard that the Tai Ji Men case is a major freedom of religion or belief issue that needs to be urgently solved.
by Massimo Introvigne
On March 5, 2024, the Tai Ji Men case reached for the ninth time the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, with the publication at the 55th session of the Council of a new written statement by the ECOSOC-accredited NGO, CAP-LC (Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience). The statement has been published on the web site of the United Nations, but since the UN links sometimes change and may become difficult to access, we also offer the document on free download.
Download the statement distributed on March 5, 2024.
The Tai Ji Men case has been repeatedly presented at the UN Human Rights Council, generating widespread interest. On November 9, 2010, the Association of World Citizens, an NGO accredited with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), submitted a 1503 procedure to the Human Rights Council about the Tai Ji Men case. A 1503 procedure is a complaint denouncing a case of violation of human rights and inviting the Human Rights Council to investigate.
At the 47th session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC filed a written statement that was distributed on June 21, 2021, on how governments misuse taxes to discriminate against certain religious and spiritual organizations, a human rights abuse of which the Tai Ji Men case was offered as an egregious example.
At the 48th session of the Human Rights Council, the same CAP-LC filed another written statement, distributed on August 31, 2021, which focused on the seizure of real estate as a weapon to discriminate against religious and spiritual minorities. The case of the sacred land of Tai Ji Men seized, auctioned off, and confiscated in 2020 on the basis of an ill-founded tax bill concerning the year 1992 was the main example of the dangerous strategy presented in the statement.
A statement on corruption filed at the 49th session and distributed on February 9, 2022, also by CAP-LC, was the fourth document calling the attention of the Human Rights Council on the Tai Ji Men case, of which the corruption of some rogue bureaucrats was always a key factor.
At the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, CAP-LC filed yet another statement, distributed on June 1, 2022, on the review of Taiwan’s compliance with the two main United Nations human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Taiwan incorporated the Two Covenants into its domestic law in 2009, and periodically asks international experts to review its performance in complying with them. However, CAP-LC noted, the most recent review of May 9–13, 2022, failed to consider the tax and freedom of religion or belief issues evidenced by the Tai Ji Men case.
At the 51st session of the Human Right Council CAP-LC filed a new written statement, the sixth document on the Tai Ji Men case submitted to the Council, distributed on September 1, 2022 and emphasizing how international scholars have reacted and supported Tai Ji Men.
At the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council a new statement supported the proposal for an International Day Against Judicial and Tax Persecution by State Power launched by Dr. René Wadlow, President of the ECOSOC-accredited NGO Association of World Citizen (AWC) and by Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, the Shifu (Grand Master) of Tai Ji Men who is also Vice President of the AWC.
In May 2023, at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council CP-LC filed a statement focusing on transitional justice issues in the Tai Ji Men case.
The new statement by CAP-LC for the 55th session of the Council deals with the “Violation of the Democratic Principles and Misuse of Tax Laws to Discriminate Against Spiritual Groups.”
It focuses on the forum held in Taipei on January 9, 2024, co-organized by several associations including the ECOSOC-accredited NGO Association of World Citizens, the Taiwan Association for Financial Criminal Law Study, the Financial and Economic Research Center of National Chung Cheng University, Action Alliance to Redress 1219, the Tax and Law Reform League, and the Movement for “An Era of Conscience” at National Taiwan University.
It refers to the lectures given there by me, by prominent British sociologist of religion Eileen Barker, OBE, and several legal experts.
All speakers, the statement says, “mentioned as one of the most serious incidents in the world today where taxes are weaponized to discriminate against a spiritual movement the Tai Ji Men case in Taiwan.”
Quoting Chen Tze-Lung, Chairman of the “Taiwan Association for Financial Criminal Law Study” and a co-initiator of the Tax and Legal Reform League, the statement concludes that “everything in this case was false: fake crimes, fake tax bills, fake investigations, fake news leaked to the media. As new authorities are expected to take office in Taiwan, CAP-LC urges them to regard as a priority to solve the Tai Ji Men case. It also urges all governments to refrain from using taxes as a discriminatory weapon against religious and spiritual minorities.”