The legal age of marriage for women should be raised from 16 to 18, just as it is for men, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said at a legislative question-and-answer session on Tuesday.
Describing Taiwan’s laws as “highly discriminatory and a legal relic from the 1930s,” Lin said that under the Civil Code, the minimum age for engaging in a marriage contract is 15 for women and 17 for men, while the legal age of marriage is 16 for women and 18 for men.
She said that distinguishing civil rights by gender symbolizes inequality.
The UN International Bill of Human Rights defines people under 18 as children, and as a result the WHO and the UN Children’s Fund enacted international laws that forbid child marriage, Lin added.
The Ministry of Justice since 2011 has attempted to draft a legal amendment to bring gender equality to the age of marriage, and a governmental committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women had also recommended legal amendments, but their efforts have repeatedly failed, Lin said.
The age of marriage under Taiwanese law constitutes gender discrimination and child marriage which are forbidden under international law, Lin said, adding: “Society has moved on; the laws are not in line with the needs of a modern society.”
Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said that the ministry had tried to draft a bill to amend the laws during the previous legislative session, but its efforts were bogged down in a review committee amid disagreements between its members and consulting academics.
The legislator asked Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to fulfill the nation’s commitment to bring its laws in line with international human-rights standards.
Lin Chuan said that the current laws “have room for critique,” and that he wants to work toward that goal with the consensus of lawmakers.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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