Statement | Regarding Media Reports on the Passing of Our Former Staff Member Ch'en Mei-hui

Regarding the December 4 media reports on the tragic passing of Ch'en Mei-hui in a national highway traffic accident, we feel profound sorrow and regret. We kindly urge all sectors of society and our media friends, when showing concern for this incident, to respect the feelings of the family and friends involved, and to avoid disclosing or mentioning information concerning her relatives or other aspects of her private life, as well as using private photographs found on social media (with particular attention to the provisions of the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act).

During her 10 years working at the Judicial Reform Foundation from 2013 to early 2024, Ch'en Mei-hui disregarded compensation, fame, and fortune, selflessly and fully dedicating herself to public interest causes and caring for vulnerable social groups, hoping that everyone on this land of Taiwan could be treated with equality and dignity.

The following summary of information falls far short of fully presenting Ch'en Mei-hui's long-term efforts in public interest work. However, to the best of our knowledge, she made the following outstanding contributions during her tenure at the JRF:

• Joined the JRF in 2013 as an executive secretary, responsible for editing the Judicial Reform Magazine, building and editing the official website, managing the Facebook page, and administering information security and IT systems. From 2019, she served as the director of the Social Advocacy Department, overseeing the JRF's social advocacy and community communication work.
• Led the volunteer rescue team for the "Hsu Tzu-chiang Wrongful Conviction Case," organizing numerous rescue activities, advocacy events, and press conferences, and sorting through massive amounts of case files and documentation.
• Project-managed the establishment of the "Judicial Reform Digital Database" and the "Judicial Reform Foundation Digital Archives Retrieval System."
• Devoted herself to the rescue work of the "Chen Ching-kuei Wrongful Conviction Case," communicating on the front lines with brain science experts, assisting the legal team in continuously organizing evidence for extraordinary remedy proceedings, and conducting workshops across Taiwan to train seed instructors and translate scientific evidence thinking into lesson plans for schools.
• Supported the advocacy work of the 318 Pro Bono Lawyers Platform, served as the curator for the "No One Here: The 7th Anniversary Special Exhibition" regarding the March 24 Executive Yuan violent dispersal incident, and set up the special website for the incident's seventh anniversary.
• Assisted victims of romance scams and exposed improper practices involving "fake legal aid" (Legal Aid Foundation, Taiwan).
• Deeply participated in the operations of the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO) Taiwan Chapter to "rescue victims of human trafficking in Cambodia." Later, while still in office, she assumed the roles of chairperson of the GASO Taiwan Chapter and chairperson of the Taiwan International Anti-Scam Association, assisting scam victims on the front lines, analyzing the criminal and money-laundering techniques of scam syndicates, and providing consultative opinions on government anti-fraud policies.

Ch'en Mei-hui sacrificed a vast amount of her private time, unremunerated, to assist fraud victims and engage in various public interest works. She proactively and spontaneously led us to understand this seemingly intractable problem and dedicated herself to proposing feasible methods so that victims of scams could see hope.

Until this very moment, the way we understood her was simply that she felt there were far too many places in the world that ought to become better.

Suffering remains unending, justice is hard to find, life and death are fickle, but her spirit endures forever.