The Taiwanese Association for Human Rights (TAHR) yesterday listed the denial of rights to lepers at the Losheng (Happy Family) Sanatorium and the leaking of private information on quarantined tuberculosis patients among the year's top human rights abuses, urging voters to evaluate legislative candidates based on their awareness of human rights.
With International Human Rights Day on Monday, the association yesterday held a press conference in Taipei to unveil the country's "top 10 human right news events" this year.
The association has designed a 25-question human rights survey, which they invited legislative candidates to take and "ponder their positions on a number of issues such as gay rights, the human rights of AIDS carriers and the death penalty," TAHR secretary-general Lin Shu-ya (
"A good legislator should possess a sound appreciation of human rights," Taiwan International Workers' Association secretary-general Wu Jing-ru (
"In the upcoming elections, we urge voters to choose their legislators wisely for the betterment of society," Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association founder Robin Winkler (
"It saddens me that we have to bring most of the issues we are raising today to public attention, since most of them should be regarded as basic human rights," Wu said.
One such basic human right, Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-jeng (
"In an age when most developed countries have dropped the death penalty, Taiwan is still stubbornly holding on to this outdated law," Lin said, citing the 16-year-long judicial process of Su Chien-ho (
"In addition, the fact that judges, who may lack `real life experience' and are made judges merely because they've passed an examination, are granted the power to determine whether another human lives or dies, is an issue worthy of re-examination," he said.
"It is equally despicable that we still see incidents of discrimination against and maltreatment of [runaway] migrant workers," Wu said.
"We have listed the top 10 events to remind people what they need to keep in mind when choosing their public servants," Lin said. "On the issue of human rights, Taiwan cannot afford to go backwards."
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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