The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pushing for Taiwan to be included as a participating treaty member of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to serve as a legal basis for the protection of women's rights in the country, officials said yesterday.
Ministry Spokesman Michel Lu (
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Wednesday approved the ministry's proposal to join the CEDAW and called on the foreign ministry and the Ministry of the Interior to propose legislation to codify the convention.
The proposal will be sent to the legislature for ratification soon.
Su said that Taiwan's participation in the CEDAW would improve the country's links with the international community regarding the protection of human rights, in accordance with "gender mainstreaming," a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality.
However, since Taiwan was not a member of the UN, any accession documents that Taiwan submits to the UN may not be recognized, Lu said.
"It is expected that the UN will not handle the deposit of Taiwan's CEDAW instruments of accession. But despite this, Taiwan's spontaneous compliance with the convention proves it has the ability and willingness to fulfill its duties in the international community," Lu said.
As in the case of the UN's unwillingness to accept Taiwan's instruments of accession for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, Lu said this wouldn't affect the nation's ability to comply with the treaty.
Lu said international conventions such as CEDAW were open to all state members to sign.
The CEDAW, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. The convention defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.
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