Despite supporting an anti-discrimination bill drafted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), a number of civic groups yesterday raised doubts about whether the bill could be implemented once it becomes law.
Representatives from several civic groups made the remarks during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan organized by Cheng yesterday.
The bill was drafted by Cheng’s office to combat discrimination based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, mental or physical disabilities, sex or sexual orientation.
The draft bill would also create a separate Cabinet-level commission for human rights protection and equality.
“I agree with most of the content in the draft bill and I think the bill’s intentions are great,” said Wu Jia-zhen (吳佳臻), TransAsia Sisters Association Taiwan’s North Taiwan Office director. “But I’m also concerned [about] how this attractive bill [will] be implemented once it becomes law?”
Wu said there were already anti-discrimination clauses in several existing laws — such as in the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) and the Act for Gender Equality in Employment (性別平等工作法) — but they have had little effect in combating discrimination because of a lack of enthusiasm among public servants.
She questioned how the proposed bill would be more effective if such attitudes do not change.
Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan secretary-general Wang Ping (王蘋) agreed.
Wang said existing laws already assigned jobs to different government institutions to fight discrimination, asking whether the proposed commission “would conflict with existing government agencies.”
Taiwan Association for Human Rights’ Advocacy and Campaign director Yeh Ting-chun (葉亭君) said the new commission must be granted independence and the power to investigate and promote anti-discrimination through education.
“If we want a commission to better protect human rights and equality, the commission must not be a passive one,” she said.
Looking into the draft bill’s details, Labor Rights Association executive director Wang Chuan-ping (王娟萍) said she did not understand why the bill excluded certain circumstances.
“Article 47 of the bill prohibits public servants from making discriminatory comments. However, Article 26 excludes many government agencies from the bill, including the Legislative Yuan,” Wang said. “But members of the Legislative Yuan are the ones who usually make the most openly discriminatory remarks.”
Wang said it didn’t make sense for Article 44 of the draft to restrict the scope of the bill “for national security reasons.”
“Acts that would really threaten national security are mentioned in other laws. Excluding application of the bill for national security reasons would result in excuses to discriminate against people legally,” she said.
She said it would be hard to define what “discrimination” is at work because employers can always come up with an excuse to avoid being charged after firing or refusing to hire someone based on ethnicity or sex.
A Chinese military drone was spotted conducting reconnaissance off Taitung County as President William Lai (賴清德) visited Pingtung County this morning to inspect a drill of the armed forces’ precision-strike capabilities, prompting the military to closely monitor its actions. Today was the final day of a three-day military exercise at Jioupeng Base (九鵬基地) to test the joint combat capabilities of the armed forces and coast guard. The exercise began on Wednesday simulating air defense interception and yesterday tested long-range strike capabilities and new air defense weapons. This morning, the military conducted a final exercise involving air defense, anti-ship and drone operations. Military sources said
OCT. 31: The antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Eraflu have been distributed to about 4,000 medical facilities nationwide for people in seven groups who develop flu-like symptoms As the domestic influenza epidemic enters its peak season and continues to escalate, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced that publicly funded influenza antiviral drugs for seven eligible groups have been extended to Oct. 31, allowing those who develop flu-like symptoms to receive the medication without undergoing a rapid influenza test. The CDC has extended the expanded use of flu antiviral drugs to seven groups: healthcare and influenza-prevention personnel; residents and staff at nursing homes, long-term care facilities and similar institutions; kindergarten and daycare workers and home-based caregivers; students from kindergarten through high school, vocational high school and the
RARE PEEK: The footage released showed one of the bears staying in a cave for as long as 70 days, providing the first record of Formosan black bear’s overwintering The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released tracking records of released Formosan black bears for the first time, showing that they get much closer to human settlements than previously thought. The agency said it had captured two bears, Da Qu-ali (達古阿里) and Aziman (阿里曼), in indigenous villages in Hualien County and began to track them with a camera-mounted satellite collar after releasing them back into the wild. The results confirmed that the bears have moved from deep mountain areas into lowland hills closer to human communities, leading to an increase in human-bear conflicts, it said. The agency has introduced artificial intelligence-assisted early
DIPLOMATIC TOUR: Chinese President Xi Jinping began a series of overseas visits last month to Kyrgyzstan, Egypt and India, aimed at securing leverage, an official said Recent Chinese diplomatic and military moves are aimed at creating pressure ahead of a planned meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump, National Security Council adviser Huang Chung-yen (黃重諺) said. Trump when visiting China in May extended an invitation to Xi to visit Washington on Sept. 24. China is yet to officially announce plans for Xi’s visit to the US. In an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Thursday, Huang said Xi’s overseas visits, China’s “gray zone” activities along the First Island Chain and efforts to expand its trade surplus with the
RSS