The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy announced yesterday that its 2007 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award will go to Cynthia Maung, founder of the Mae Tao Clinic located close to the Thai-Burmese border, for her long-term dedication to helping Burmese refugees.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who is also chairman of the foundation, said Maung, or "Dr. Cynthia" as her patients call her, stood out from the five finalists with an excellent review from the foundation's Final Review Board.
The finalists included Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission; People in Need, a Czech non-profit organization providing relief around the world; exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (
Wang said the consensus to choose Maung was reached by the review board: Robert Menard, founder of Reporters Sans Frontieres, which fights for freedom of speech worldwide; Asma Jahangir, chairwoman of Human Rights of Pakistan; Nisuke Ando, a member of UN Human Rights Committee; Alexander Boraine, chairman of the International Center for Transitional Justice; and Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy in the US.
"Dr. Cynthia is going beyond her mandate as a physician by turning a refugee population into a community based on shared values and respect for human rights, as well as by linking her cause to the international community," Wang said during a press conference.
The foundation will invite Maung to visit Taiwan on Dec. 13 to receive the award and a grant of US$100,000 to support her relief work, Wang said.
Maung, who was born in Yangon in 1959, was also a refugee herself after she fled across the border to Mae Sot, Thailand, where she lived in the Huay Kaloke refugee camp.
She established a makeshift clinic in Mae Sot in 1989 to provide medical treatment for victims of wars and job training and HIV prevention education to refugees free of charge.
She has been internationally recognized over the past few decades, including being chosen by Time magazine as one of its Asian heroes in 2003, being nominated for the 1,000 Women Nobel Peace Prize, and being awarded the 2005 Chou Ta-Kuan Foundation's Global Concern for Human Life Award.
"Giving the award to her means we have formed a broader definition of democracy and human rights," said the foundation's standing supervisor, Hsiao Hsin-huang (
"Last year, we awarded the prize to Reporters Sans Frontieres," Hsiao said. "This year's winner provides direct services to victims ... from reporters to doctors, everyone can fight for democracy and human rights."
Hsiao said the timing of Maung's award was crucial because it represented an immediate concern from Taiwan for the refugees from Myanmar.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS