成吉思汗的子裔如何廢除死刑──蒙古廢除死刑的法律社會學觀察

How the Descendants of Chinggis-Khan abloished the death Penalty: An observantion on the Legal Sociology and the History of Mongolia

蒙古，一個對於台灣而言相對陌生的國度，地廣人稀，既不如日本、韓國，台灣等地經濟發達，更遲至1990年代初期，才從一黨獨裁的國家轉型為民主國家。但蒙古卻是當前東亞諸國之中，第一個廢除死刑的國家。探討蒙古為何，以及如何廢除死刑？正是本論文的書寫目的。本論文在方法論上，在「為何廢除死刑」的部分，將從蒙古的法律社會學／史的面向，以及東亞地理政治史學的面向切入，並試圖證明蒙古之所以廢黜死刑，並非純然向國際人權基準、兩大人權公約致敬之舉；其中實有一整套轉型正義的實踐，與民族自救的戰略邏輯。而在「如何廢除死刑」的部分，則將分析蒙古如何巧妙運用法解釋，將國際法／憲法／刑法鎔於一爐，以最低政治成本廢除了死刑。最後並將簡略討論：蒙古「廢除死刑做為人權民主立國的一環」的國家戰略，對於台灣有何值得借鑑之處。

A relatively unfamiliar country to Taiwan, Mongolia, with its expansive territory and sparse population, is not only economically underdeveloped compared to Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but also politically untransformed until the early 1990s, when it finally began to undergo democratic transition from a one-party state. Be that as it may, Mongolia was the first East Asian country to abolish the death penalty. This paper aims to inquire into why and how Mongolia abolished the death penalty. In terms of why the death penalty was abolished, this paper argues from the perspectives of both the Mongolian legal sociology and history and the East Asian geopolitical history that Mongolia made the decision more out of its own practical and strategic concerns for transitional justice and national self-salvation than a pure respect for the international human right standards as well as the two major human right Covenants. In terms of how, the paper analyzed the process through which the Mongolian elite adroitly utilized legal interpretations to achieve the end at the lowest political cost by combining international, constitutional and criminal laws into one coherent argument. Last but not least, the paper discusses what lessons Taiwan might learn from Mongolia’s grand strategy of including human rights as an inseparable part of its national values.