Most people around the world are indifferent toward human-rights abuses, Canadian human-rights attorney David Matas told an international forum in Taipei yesterday.
Even though the public agrees that human-rights violations in China are wrong, "they are not prepared to do anything about it," he said.
Describing indifference as the "biggest obstacle" to combating rights violations, Matas said that "people are indifferent because they do not pay close enough attention to sort out truth from falsehood, the real from the unreal."
He said the best strategies are to arouse awareness of human rights and to enable everyone to distinguish the lies told by any regime in the form of propaganda and cover-ups.
Discounting China's promise to improve its rights record, Paolo Barabesi, a representative of Human Rights Without Frontiers, said there has not been any progress, noting that Beijing has suppressed religion and the development of human rights.
The forum, titled "Human Rights in China and the 2008 Olympics," was organized by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) and the Taiwan Culture Foundation.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator William Lai (賴清德), who also serves as CIPFG Asia president, urged the world to face up to the Chinese government's suppression of human rights and to take measures to prevent the Beijing Games from becoming a repeat of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The Berlin Games were a propaganda tool for Nazi Germany, Lai said, adding that "what the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is going to be is in our hands."
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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