More than 40 Chinese spouses, the Alliance for Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants (AHRLIM), the Awakening Foundation and other organizations demonstrated yesterday outside the Taipei Guest House, saying that a lack of human rights and domestic and marriage legislation were turning them into second-class citizens.
They demanded that the Act Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) be amended so they could enjoy the same human rights as other foreign spouses.
Tseng Chao-yuan (曾昭媛), Awakening Foundation secretary-general, said there were about 98,000 Chinese spouses residing in Taiwan, but that they have to wait for 10 years before they can obtain citizenship, unlike other foreign spouses who are eligible after four years.
PHOTO: CNA
Hsia Hsiao-chuan (夏曉鵑), associate professor in Shih Hsin University’s Graduate Institute for Social Transformation Studies, said that although Taiwan was a country that respected human rights, Chinese spouses were discriminated against. adding that international conventions on women’s rights state that foreign spouses should enjoy basic human rights protection in their new country.
Zheng Xiaowen (鄭曉文), who has lived in Taiwan for five years, said that many Chinese spouses experienced economic problems, because they do not have the right to work, which means if their spouse dies and they have no children, or if they divorce because of domestic violence, the Chinese spouse has to return to China.
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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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