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Film festival marks 60th year since UN declaration

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) has organized a film festival that begins tomorrow to raise public awareness of various human rights issues.

“Sixty years have passed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, yet many different human rights abuses still exist all over the world,” TAHR secretary-general Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳) told the Taipei Times by telephone.

“Since human rights is a rather abstract concept that covers a broad range of issues, we wanted to highlight certain topics with film, so people can see what they are and how different countries have dealt with similar issues,” Tsai said.

Six civic organizations and the French, British, Canadian, US, Czech and Polish representative offices helped organize the festival, which will screen 20 movies on subjects such as authoritarian rule, transitional justice, student activism, Aboriginal autonomy, judicial systems and children’s rights.

Tsai said the films concerning authoritarian rule and transitional justice might be most relevant to the situation in Taiwan and encourage younger viewers in particular to consider these issues.

“Most young people today take human rights, freedom and democracy for granted,” Tsai said. “Hopefully, they will be able to relate the content of the movies to Taiwan’s authoritarian past and realize how fragile what we’re enjoying today might be.”

One of the movies, The Parade, is a documentary about everyday life in North Korea, while another, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, investigates massacres in Cambodia committed by the communist regime.

Three documentaries at the festival tell the stories of former political prisoners in Taiwan and how domestic and international human rights activists worked for their release.

In addition, Tsai said he hoped that documentaries on the prosecution of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and war criminals in the former Yugoslavia would encourage the audience to think about transitional justice in Taiwan.

“If we want Taiwan to become a better country, we should look at what other countries have done and think about what we should do,” she said.

The free film screenings will be held in Taipei and Kaohsiung until Dec. 31. For details, visit the Web site at udhr60.twbbs.org.
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