Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) yesterday announced that a National Human Rights Museum is to be formally founded on May 17 next year in Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park (景美人權文化園區) in New Taipei City and the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park on Green Island (綠島).
Cheng made the announcement at an event marking International Human Rights Day at the Taipei Guest House that was attended by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), human rights campaigner Linda Arrigo and a number of survivors of political persecution and their families.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the survivors of political persecution, who three decades ago during the Martial Law era resisted the authoritarian regime and bought the freedom Taiwanese enjoy today with their blood and tears, Cheng said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Maintaining the country’s democratic way of life requires that people remember their history, she said.
Confronting the country’s history of human rights violations and making restitution is not about fanning political partisanship, but rather a necessary act to reaffirm that human rights are the core value of democratic societies, she said.
The establishment of the National Human Rights Museum “shows that this administration believes the country’s history of political persecution should be confronted at the level of the state,” she said.
“Building a museum in a place of past injustice will help transform a place of historical trauma into a place of human rights education for modern society,” she said.
Tsai in her speech said she hopes the country’s aspirations for transitional justice will become a social moment that brings Taiwanese together and helps them forge a common future.
Social consensus on reconciliation is a prerequisite for transitional justice and the authoritarian remnants of the past must be dealt with through the democratic process, she said.
Tsai also commented on the passage into law of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which media reports said required that schools and roads named after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) be renamed.
“The experience of transitional justice in other countries shows that transitional justice involves the past of the entire country and society,” she said. “It would be a pity if our shared pain is simplified to the issue of changing names.”
Tsai did not elaborate on the issue.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,