The League of Welfare Organizations for the Disabled and 10 other groups representing people with disabilities yesterday urged the legislature to adopt the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and entered into force in 2008.
The People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act (身心障礙者權益保障法) is limited, League president Ma Hai-hsia (馬海霞) said, citing an incident that occurred in June in which a woman with Down syndrome dining at a McDonald’s franchise was escorted out by police.
“The act could only, at best, impose a fine on the fast-food outlet of between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000, but the local authority only asked it to improve [its service],” Ma said, adding that a similar incident in the US ended with a Illinois court ruling the restaurant was in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act for Discrimination and awarded the plaintiff US$65,000 in damages.
Photo: CNA
As of last month, the CRPD had 158 signatories and 138 ratifying parties worldwide, according to the groups.
League secretary-general Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) said the groups have been calling on the government to sign the convention after its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (known as the “two covenants”) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, but received no positive response.
“In the wake of the government’s deferment, we have decided to take it upon to ourselves to push for endorsement starting from the local level. So far, the Pingtung County Mayor has signed the agreement and the Lienchiang County [Matsu] Council has made a resolution calling for the central government’s signing of CRPD,” Wang said, adding that they are also inviting political parties to propose the bill for the domestic implementation of the convention.
Lee Bing-hung (李秉宏), the nation’s first visually impaired lawyer, said the two covenants have not covered thoroughly what might be needed by people with disabilities, such as a barrier free environment and regulations curbing discrimination against them.
He said that the act is “passive” and directed more toward “welfare,” whereas the CRPD is “proactive” in its emphasis in setting down the changes to the social structure that are needed to ensure people with disabilities have rights to equal social participation.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
RSS