Reporters Without Borders, an international organization dedicated to protecting freedom of the press and the rights of journalists, won the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, a prize set by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), the executive of the foundation, yesterday announced the winner of the award, which was created this year to honor individuals or organizations that contribute to human rights and democracy in Asia.
Reporters Without Borders is the first organization to receive this honor, which comes with a US$100,000 prize and a medal.
Lin said that a total of 20 individuals and organizations -- including Chinese activists and academic groups from southeastern countries -- competed for the award. He said that to avoid controversy the foundation could not reveal the names of the competitors.
Lin said that Reporters Without Borders obtained votes from Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Bernard Kouchner, the co-founder of Doctors Without Borders and former director of France's Department of Health, and Huang Qi (黃琦), the founder of China's first Web site promoting human rights.
"Although Reporters Without Borders is not an organization based in Asia, it devotes itself to encouraging freedom of the press and protecting human rights and personal security of journalists in the world. Its work extends to the human rights movement in China and has made outstanding accomplishments in rescuing human rights activists who were persecuted or jailed," Lin said.
The organization has branches all over the world and works in close cooperation with advocates of freedom of the press.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is a non-profit and semi-official organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights in Taiwan and abroad.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng (王金平) serves as the chairman of the foundation and Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) is the vice chairman.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS