One of the most important objectives of the UN is to promote the fundamental freedoms and rights of all human beings, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, language and religious beliefs, as well as to facilitate international cooperation to help solve issues relating to the global economy, society, culture, humanity and human rights.
To demonstrate its respect for the cultures of indigenous people around the world, the UN has designated Aug. 9 -- today -- as International Day of the World's Indigenous People. The event is celebrated every year.
On Dec. 10, 1994, the UN initiated a program entitled "the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People." Its intention was to strengthen cooperation between different organizations and regional committees within the UN and promote the world body's collaboration with other international institutions, as well as to assist member states in making improvements on issues concerning economic, social and educational development for indigenous people.
The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), inaugurated in July 2000, aims to provide consultation and suggestions to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the General Assembly to help solve issues related to economic and social development, as well cultural education, the environment, health and human rights.
The forum, which is a subsidiary body of the ECOSOC, now serves as a platform for the world's indigenous organizations and non-governmental agencies to discuss indigenous issues and exchange ideas.
For Taiwan, however, because it is not a member state of the UN, the path taken by the nation's indigenous people in an attempt to gain entry into the Permanent Forum has been arduous.
It would be tremendously significant if Taiwan were able to attend the PFII, for the nation would not only be able to promote and introduce its Aboriginal culture to the international community, but also incorporate and study the Aboriginal policies of other nations to help us map out better policies.
Clearly, the mainstream principle espoused by the international community is to uphold human rights. Moreover, a nation's human-rights record regarding indigenous people has become an important yardstick to evaluate the overall condition of its human-rights environment.
In 2000, President Chen Shui-bian (
This year, the government promulgated the Aboriginal Basic Law (
These efforts by the government to improve the human rights of indigenous people in recent years will definitely be helpful in promoting "Aboriginal diplomacy."
Additionally, to help place the nation in the international spotlight, the government has to encourage indigenous people to participate in international activities.
Only through engaging in exchanges with the indigenous organizations of other nations can Taiwan share the experience of how it has endeavored to protect the interests of indigenous people and assist other nations in the development of indigenous cultures -- which can eventually benefit the nation diplomatically.
Chen Lung-chu is chairman of the New Century Foundation and the director of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
RSS