v1.2 | Updated 2026-09-20 | Free China Movement (FCM) | Model legislative draft | English
Legal nature and evidentiary boundaries: This document is model legislation, not law in force. Any matter involving specific historical facts, victim numbers, individual responsibility, institutional responsibility, or findings of criminality must be confirmed case by case under the applicable evidentiary standards and legal procedures; listing a given historical event as a priority scope for investigation, archives, compensation, or commemoration does not prejudge the legal responsibility of any specific individual or institution.
Chapter One: General Provisions
Article 1 [Legislative Purpose] This Act is enacted to affirm the victims of grave rights violations and to provide effective remedies, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, restoration of reputation, and measures to prevent recurrence.
Article 2 [Principle of Equality] Eligibility as a victim shall be based on facts and evidence, and no discrimination shall be permitted on the basis of political views, party affiliation, organizational identity, religion, ethnicity, gender, social class, nationality, or current stance.
Article 3 [Separation from Criminal Liability] A determination of victim status or a compensation decision under this Act does not, of itself, constitute a criminal conviction of any third party; criminal responsibility is determined by the competent judicial authority in accordance with law.
Chapter Two: Victims and Types of Violation
Article 4 [Victims] Victims include individuals who directly suffered grave rights violations, as well as spouses, children, parents, and other dependent family members who have suffered substantive harm in law by reason of death, disappearance, serious disability, or prolonged detention.
Article 5 [Types of Violation] Covered violations may include unlawful deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, political persecution, unlawful confiscation, forced labour, grave discriminatory deprivations, attributable harm caused by serious policy disasters, and grave civilian harm in war or military operations for which relief is owed by law.
Article 6 [Priority Historical Cases] The priority historical scope includes major civilian victim cases of the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists, prisoners of conscience and political persecution cases since 1949, victims of the Great Famine of 1958–1961 and related policies, major persecution cases of the Cultural Revolution, victims of June Fourth 1989 and the subsequent crackdown, and other major systematic violations.
Chapter Three: Application and Determination
Article 7 [Right to Apply] Victims themselves, their legal representatives, close relatives, or duly authorized representatives may file applications.
Article 8 [Assistance in Proof] Where proof is difficult because of state-controlled archives, the passage of time, disappearance, or other causes not attributable to the applicant, the compensation authority shall on its own initiative obtain materials pursuant to the Archives Openness Act, and shall not attribute the absence of state-held evidence entirely to the applicant.
Article 9 [Standard of Proof] Administrative determination of victim status may employ a standard of proof different from that for criminal conviction, but it must be stated explicitly in the law, with the factual basis, the levels of evidence, and the uncertainties explained.
Article 10 [Truth Commission Materials] The findings of fact, victim lists, and archival materials of the Truth Commission may serve as important evidence, but the compensation authority shall conduct its own independent review in accordance with law.
Article 11 [Written Decisions] Any decision granting or denying an application shall state the facts, the legal basis, the compensation items, and the avenues for review.
Chapter Four: Forms of Remedy
Article 12 [Restitution] Where practically feasible and without infringing the lawful rights and interests of third parties, priority shall be given to correcting erroneous identity records, revoking unlawful dispositions, returning property, or restoring lawful rights.
Article 13 [Monetary Compensation] For death, disability, unlawful detention, property loss, lost educational or employment opportunities, and other provable harm, public benchmarks shall be established, with adjustment permitted according to the severity of the individual case.
Article 14 [Rehabilitation] Victims may, as needed, receive medical care, psychological services, social services, assistive devices, legal aid, and other rehabilitative measures.
Article 15 [Restoration of Reputation] In confirmed cases, mechanisms shall be provided to revoke false political labels, correct official records, issue factual confirmation documents, and make public corrections.
Article 16 [Measures of Satisfaction] Measures may include public apologies, confirmation of facts, recovery of remains, return of personal effects, commemoration, education, and other measures restoring dignity.
Article 17 [Guarantees of Non-Recurrence] The compensation system shall be linked with institutional reform, archives openness, judicial reform, education, and public-service ethics reform.
Chapter Five: Emergency and Priority Relief
Article 18 [Emergency Relief] For the elderly, the seriously ill, the severely impoverished, those who have lost their primary carers, families of the disappeared, and other emergency situations, rapid interim relief shall be provided, without requiring a complete final determination first.
Article 19 [Priority Ordering] Priority ordering shall be set according to urgency, age, health, degree of harm, and dependence for livelihood, and shall not be determined by political influence or media exposure.
Chapter Six: Institutions, Budget, and Review
Article 20 [Compensation Commission] An independent Compensation Commission shall be established, whose members shall have professional backgrounds in law, finance, medicine, social services, victim affairs, and related fields.
Article 21 [Conflicts of Interest] Members with a material relationship to a case shall recuse themselves.
Article 22 [Fiscal Sustainability] The compensation system shall provide for annual budgets, priority items, instalment payments, audits, an emergency fund, and assessments of long-term obligations; no unenforceable unlimited fiscal commitments shall be made.
Article 23 [Review and Judicial Remedy] Applicants may request administrative review; those dissatisfied with a final administrative decision may seek court review in accordance with law.
Chapter Seven: Commemoration and Privacy
Article 24 [Commemorative Register] Confirmed victims may be entered in the national commemorative register pursuant to the October 1 Memorial Day Act.
Article 25 [Choice of Disclosure] Victims or their families may apply to make names and sensitive materials public, partially public, or restricted from publication.
Chapter Eight: Supplementary Provisions
Article 26 [Other Remedies Not Affected] Administrative compensation obtained under this Act does not, of itself, bar the pursuit of other civil, administrative, or criminal procedural rights in accordance with law, except where the law expressly provides otherwise in conformity with the constitution.
Article 27 [No Collective Guilt] Responsibility for historical events shall not be attributed to any ethnicity, family, region, ordinary party members, ordinary public servants, or descendants; responsibility must be judged on individual conduct and evidence.
Article 28 [Implementation] The specific effective date, compensation benchmarks, budget, and transitional procedures of this Act shall be decided by a future legislature established in accordance with law.
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Comparative practice note
ROC (Taiwan) comparison: Transitional Justice, Victim Remedies & Political Archives — comparative implementation evidence. The statistics and case-flow data on that companion page concern ROC (Taiwan), not mainland China; they are used only to test institutional design, sequencing, safeguards and measurable delivery.
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