The opening ceremony of the 2005 World Children's Rights Summit was held yesterday in Taipei, as 87 children from 19 different nations gathered to discuss the main theme this year -- how children can help children.
The event, organized the Children's Rights Association of Taiwan, is being held for the fifth time this year, and focuses on three issues that influence children all over the world -- war, poverty and abuse.
Huang Pi-hsia (
Children's rights are often overlooked by society, especially in cases of child abuse and when parents commit suicide with their children, Huang said. Children have the right to live and the right to be protected, she added.
"When the summit is over, these children will return to their respective countries and will educate other children, and hopefully, when they grow up, they will become parents who understand children's rights," Huang said.
The NGO Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also played a role in the summit, by helping to finance the event.
Oliver Liao (
"We hope that through this summit, human rights and children's rights can be promoted on a global scale," Liao said.
The Taiwanese participants underwent a selection process in which English was a major criterion, while participants from abroad found out about the program through Taiwan's economic and cultural affairs offices while in their own countries.
Henry Verall, a 12-year-old British student from the Taipei European School (TES), said that this was his second year attending the summit.
"Last year the topic was environmental protection, but this year the summit focuses on poverty, war and child abuse," Verall said. "To me, the most important children's right is a sense of security -- that children can feel and be safe wherever they go."
Jamie Whitcombe, who is also a TES student, said that they were asked to write an essay on children's rights before attending the summit.
"I really didn't realize the importance of the issues until I actually attended this summit," Whitcombe said.
"Now I know the real meaning of children helping other children," Whitcome added.
Igor de Oliveire Borges, a 12-year-old student from Brazil, said that he would most like to see the alleviation of child poverty all over the world.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS