The Taiwan Foundation for Demo-cracy (TFD) yesterday announced that the Rescue Foundation, an Indian anti-human trafficking organization, was the recipient of this year’s Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as chairman of the foundation, told a press conference in Taipei that the Rescue Foundation stood out from a list of five finalists recommended for the award for its dedication to helping young girls exploited by human traffickers or forced into prostitution in South Asia.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will present a US$100,000 grant to a representative of the foundation on Human Rights Day in Taipei tomorrow, Wang said.
The Rescue Foundation was established by Balkrishna Acahrya in Mumbai in 2000. The group rescues about 300 girls from India, Nepal and Bangladesh every year.
The foundation was recommended by Vaidehi (whose alias is Vibhuti Joshi), a 17-year-old victim of human trafficking and the Dutch children’s organization Stop Child Abuse, Wang said.
The Dutch organization said the Rescue Foundation successfully invested its resources in rescuing and comforting victims and provided them with an opportunity to return to a normal life.
Vaidehi said she was able to move beyond her memories of abuse with help from the foundation, Wang said.
A total of 25 individuals and organizations were nominated for the award in the TFD’s preliminary review and five entered the final list after being reviewed by a board composed of international human rights advocates, including Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and a former recipient of the award, and Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute director Nisuke Ando.
None of the recommended individuals or groups were Taiwanese, TFD chief executive Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said during a question-and-answer session after the press conference.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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
RSS