Aviation City tragedy 01 "announcement on the eve of expropriation surprised the old farmer to commit suicide! Human rights groups criticize: compulsory expropriation violates the Constitution and harms human rights

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The demolition and relocation of 16000 households, the largest expropriation case in history, the Taoyuan Aviation City development project announced today that the collection area is 3151 hectares, and the transfer is prohibited from the announcement date, entering the stage of substantive expropriation and development. However, at the section collection forum on November 2, it was surprised to hear that the old farmer committed suicide by drinking pesticides.

During the meeting, Tsai Ching-Yun, the mayor of Luzhu, reported to Zheng Wencan, the mayor of Taoyuan, that Xu Shiding, an old farmer, refused to give up his ancestral farmland and committed suicide. Unexpectedly, Zheng Wencan did not respond positively and immediately returned to the agenda. It made the people present shudder.

With the imminent expropriation of the announcement, Xu Shi named a surplus agricultural land under the name of nearly 3,000 ping, and if according to the land expropriation price, the compensation of more than 100 million yuan is staggering. According to the market purchase price, the amount is astonishingly high, but the old farmer is not only unwilling to allow the farmland to be expropriated, but also chooses to die.

Many of the expropriated households are oppressed by the district expropriation system, and together with Xu Laonong's family, "upstream and downstream" reporters visited five expropriated households to understand their pain and helplessness on the spot. It is by no means easy for the city government to use the word "case handling".

Why do you want to die? Old farmer: farmland is the stage of his father's life, no matter how much money can not be exchanged.

Back on July 31, 80-year-old farmer Xu Shiding was found lying in his farm in Luzhu by his family. His son Xu Mingquan said, "that morning, he still went to work in the fields. After lunch, he was supposed to have taken a nap at home, but he didn't see any shoes. How could anyone work and rest in the fields at noon?" Vaguely uneasy, he went to look for someone in the field and found his father lying in the Gongliao in the field, with a jar of leftover paraquat beside him.

Xu Mingquan, the son of old farmer Xu Shiding, said that this farmland was the stage of his father's life and finally chose to drink pesticides in the ancestral farmland to commit suicide. (photography / Lin Jiyang)

"farmland is the stage of my father's life. Without this stage, it seems that life will lose its meaning." Xu Mingquan, who often goes to the fields with his father, says, "what my father is most proud of in his life is farming, and other people's fields are used to build tin factories. He is determined not to do so. Farmers who have been farming for more than 60 years are most proud of the fact that growing rice and vegetables is not enough for their own people, and they can also give away to their relatives and friends."

Some people questioned Xu Shiding's long illness, world-weariness or psychological pressure. Xu Mingquan firmly denied it. "my father was physically strong. At the age of 80, he caressed the grass, raised seedlings, made ditches and ridges of the fields, and never put his hands on others. There are no economic problems at home, brothers live in harmony, and there is no debt at present, which is definitely not a financial problem. "

"over the past ten years in the Aviation City, land agents have lobbied every day. If my father doesn't sell it, he won't sell it." Xu Mingquan said that although his father did not say anything, the whole family knew that he was suffering. "after all, it is an ancestral field, and he has a sense of mission to inherit. If he loses land in his hands, no amount of money can be exchanged for it. Under his example, our brothers have their own development, but the family has never discussed the issue of land sales. "

Even though his family was reluctant and dismayed, Xu Mingquan thought that his family did not criticize his father. "perhaps the way the old man chose to bid farewell to his life stage" made them feel more of their father's strong peasant character.

Taiwan Rights Association: residential rights belong to basic human rights, forced to hurt the feelings and personality of the old peasants.

"the right of residence is a basic human right guaranteed by international human rights conventions to ensure that a safe and dignified life will not be disturbed. The violation of human rights caused by land expropriation has already begun when life is disturbed. "Yu Yijia, the residence rights commissioner of the Taiwan Association for the Promotion of Human Rights, clearly stated the definition of" residence right "at the very beginning.

In the face of another old farmer who committed suicide because of the expropriation of the aviation city, she solemnly said, "the right of residence is spatial, especially for farmers." The old farmer devoted his whole life to ploughing the ancestral land, and the emotional connection to this land and the symbolic meaning of the family cannot be measured or replaced by the amount of compensation. " From the perspective of the right of residence, when the old farmers expropriate agricultural land, it has caused harm to the dignity and stability of the old farmers.

Yu Yijia, commissioner of the Taiwan Rights Commission, believes that the right of residence is spatial, and the relationship between old farmers and farmland is also applicable to the right of residence. (provided by the Environmental Rights Foundation) at the end of cancer, Tsai Mei-ling, founder of the Aviation City Anti-forced relocation Alliance, said: "how can the government do this to the people?"

"I really don't know what to say." After eight years of struggle, Tsai Mei-ling, founder of the Aviation City Anti-forced relocation Alliance, heard that another old farmer had committed suicide, reminding her of Lu Ayun, an old farmer who committed suicide in 2013.

"I hope that the media will not just consume the death of the old farmers, but can see where the problem of district expropriation lies." She warned visiting reporters, but also revealed that as a cadre, she felt guilty. "for a long time, she was busy fighting, but forgot that the expropriated households not only needed to defend their homes, but also needed psychological companionship."

For Tsai Mei-ling, from the moment the development project was announced, the expropriated households were forced into a dark life and were forced to face a life full of unknowns. The consenting households had to be harassed by government officials and real estate agents. The opposing households had to bear a series of hardships in the process of struggle, endured the colored eyes of the outside world, and labeled them as "greedy and insatiable."the suffering in their hearts is far from being understood by outsiders."

"with the assistance of the Taiwan Rights Commission, I only walked into the review meeting of the Construction Department for the first time in 2014, and I knew that we could say no, and we didn't have to feel sorry for ourselves. from that moment on, I knew I had to come forward before things could take a turn for the better." With the help of human rights and social movement groups, after years of struggle, Tsai Mei-ling's home has been successfully excluded from the scope of expropriation, but she continues to participate in the whole struggle against forced relocation.