In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) has organized a film festival that begins tomorrow to raise public awareness of various human rights issues.
“Sixty years have passed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, yet many different human rights abuses still exist all over the world,” TAHR secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“Since human rights is a rather abstract concept that covers a broad range of issues, we wanted to highlight certain topics with film, so people can see what they are and how different countries have dealt with similar issues,” Tsai said.
Six civic organizations and the French, British, Canadian, US, Czech and Polish representative offices helped organize the festival, which will screen 20 movies on subjects such as authoritarian rule, transitional justice, student activism, Aboriginal autonomy, judicial systems and children’s rights.
Tsai said the films concerning authoritarian rule and transitional justice might be most relevant to the situation in Taiwan and encourage younger viewers in particular to consider these issues.
“Most young people today take human rights, freedom and democracy for granted,” Tsai said. “Hopefully, they will be able to relate the content of the movies to Taiwan’s authoritarian past and realize how fragile what we’re enjoying today might be.”
One of the movies, The Parade, is a documentary about everyday life in North Korea, while another, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, investigates massacres in Cambodia committed by the communist regime.
Three documentaries at the festival tell the stories of former political prisoners in Taiwan and how domestic and international human rights activists worked for their release.
In addition, Tsai said he hoped that documentaries on the prosecution of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and war criminals in the former Yugoslavia would encourage the audience to think about transitional justice in Taiwan.
“If we want Taiwan to become a better country, we should look at what other countries have done and think about what we should do,” she said.
The free film screenings will be held in Taipei and Kaohsiung until Dec. 31. For details, visit the Web site at udhr60.twbbs.org.
‘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
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
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
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