President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday paid tribute to Taiwanese who suffered political persecution during authoritarian rule and reaffirmed his commitment to defending democracy as he marked International Human Rights Day.
Before speaking at a human rights awards ceremony, Lai on social media expressed respect for the people who contributed to Taiwan’s democracy, freedom and human rights despite “the oppression of the authoritarian regime,” including those prosecuted and jailed in the Kaohsiung Incident.
The Kaohsiung Incident refers to a crackdown by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government on a pro-democracy demonstration 45 years ago and subsequent trials targeting key campaigners.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Noting that democracy and freedom are hard-earned and can easily regress, Lai called for unity and cooperation in society to keep those values intact.
“In recent years, disinformation and cognitive warfare have become challenges for all democracies,” Lai told the ceremony in Taipei hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
It named Bangladesh-based human rights group Odhikar as its Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award winner for its three decades of civil and political rights advocacy in the South Asian nation.
“Taiwan, like Bangladesh, has experienced the suppression and coercion of authoritarian rule, but thanks to the dedication of many democracy activists and defenders of human rights, the people of Taiwan now enjoy a free and democratic way of life,” Lai said.
He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to “continue efforts to strengthen our ability to defend democracy” and “deepen partnerships with other countries to make global democracy more resilient.”
Speaking on behalf of Odhikar, Saira Rahman Khan said since its establishment in 1994, the group faced state surveillance, arbitrary trials and other forms of harassment and intimidation under the previous government led by the Bangladesh Awami League.
“However, in the past 15 years, the persecution of the organization from a corrupt, repressive and diabolical regime and its supporters has been a true testament to Odhikar’s tenacity and dedication to human rights activism,” said Khan, who is also a professor of law at BRAC University in Bangladesh.
She thanked the foundation for the award and dedicated it to “the mass movement and its martyrs,” referring to student-led protests that helped topple the former government in Dhaka in August.
Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the foundation’s chairman, said that Odhikar had “worked tirelessly to advance democracy and human rights through research, advocacy [and] monitoring.”
Han said that the group had “made significant contributions to empowering citizens, safeguarding human rights and advocating for justice with far-reaching impact” by training more than 400 human rights campaigners in Bangladesh.
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