The Legal Aid Foundation yesterday announced a new Aboriginal legal aid center amid questions over whether new Council of Indigenous Peoples’ legal interpretations would shield Aboriginal hunters from prosecution.
Issued in coordination with government agencies, the new Forestry Act (森林法), Fisheries Act (漁業法) and Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保護法) interpretations issued last month allow Aborigines to hunt, gather and fish on public land for self-use, following controversial prosecutions of Aborigines engaging in traditional hunting practices.
“Following the new interpretations, if there are not lawyers available to help defend Aborigines, we would still be likely to run into many problems,” said Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod, who is an Amis.
The council is to provide funding for five lawyers and five legal staff to be based at a new center in Hualien County.
Legal Aid Foundation chairman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that while the new interpretation made sense given the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法), the main problem was that it was only for “reference” and lacking the legal force to bind prosecutors and judges.
“Without this interpretation, other laws could conflict with the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act, but the issue is whether courts and prosecutors will accept it, because they are the ones who are actually handling cases,” he said, adding that the interpretation was likely adopted due to the difficulty of formal legal amendments.
The foundation is to primarily function as a “lubricant” to get Aborigines the best deal possible under the current legal system, he said.
“I will never forget when local police decided that our annual New Year’s ‘sacrifice celebrations’ would be a good time to bolster their performance statistics,” said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), who is a Puyuma.
“Celebrations were disrupted after Aborigines on a traditional hunt were ambushed and arrested by police,” she said.
She called for the center to devote more resources to Taitung County cases, while also cultivating Aboriginal legal talent.
DPP Legislator Kolas Kotaka called for the eventual appointment of an Aboriginal director.
“It is extremely difficult for us to find Aboriginal lawyers because there are so few who are licensed — but we are still working toward that objective,” Lo said.
A Legal Aid Foundation employee said that the establishment of the center had been delayed for months because of Aboriginal legislators’ demands that only Aboriginal lawyers be hired, with the position of center director eventually eliminated because of a lack of suitable candidates.
While individual Legal Aid Foundation lawyers have taken Aborigines’ cases in the past, the center’s resources and personnel would be able to tackle more complex issues, such land rights in Aboriginal villages, said Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policy executive director Yapasuyongu Akuyana, who is a Tsou, adding that government ownership of land and county-level zoning often stifle legal construction.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS