The New York-based UN Correspondents Association (UNCA) sent a letter on Wednesday to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for the world body to allow Taiwanese journalists to cover the UN and other related activities, including the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA).
The letter, jointly signed by UNCA members, states that all media workers should be treated on an equal footing regardless of their nationalities or what countries their media organizations belong to.
Taiwanese journalists are banned from covering the WHA meeting every year and excluded from access to the UN and its affiliated agencies.
The letter stated that in light of the press freedom set forth in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all media workers should enjoy the same rights and privileges.
“We believe that in the name of freedom of the press, and in light of the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all journalists should be granted the same rights and privileges,” the letter read.
The UNCA voiced its hope that before resolving the issue of issuing UN press passes to Taiwanese reporters, the UN would first allow Taiwanese reporters to cover the WHA annual meeting scheduled to open on Monday in Geneva.
The Geneva-based Association of Correspondents Accredited to the UN adopted a resolution in March calling for the UN secretary-general to reconsider the discriminatory policy of excluding Taiwanese journalists from covering UN-related activities.
Speaking at a conference marking World Press Freedom Day held on May 1 at the UN headquarters, UNCA president J. Tuyet Nguyen also called for the world body to respect Taiwanese journalists’ news coverage rights.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
RSS