The Taiwan Foundation for Demo-cracy (TFD) yesterday announced that the Rescue Foundation, an Indian anti-human trafficking organization, was the recipient of this year’s Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as chairman of the foundation, told a press conference in Taipei that the Rescue Foundation stood out from a list of five finalists recommended for the award for its dedication to helping young girls exploited by human traffickers or forced into prostitution in South Asia.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will present a US$100,000 grant to a representative of the foundation on Human Rights Day in Taipei tomorrow, Wang said.
The Rescue Foundation was established by Balkrishna Acahrya in Mumbai in 2000. The group rescues about 300 girls from India, Nepal and Bangladesh every year.
The foundation was recommended by Vaidehi (whose alias is Vibhuti Joshi), a 17-year-old victim of human trafficking and the Dutch children’s organization Stop Child Abuse, Wang said.
The Dutch organization said the Rescue Foundation successfully invested its resources in rescuing and comforting victims and provided them with an opportunity to return to a normal life.
Vaidehi said she was able to move beyond her memories of abuse with help from the foundation, Wang said.
A total of 25 individuals and organizations were nominated for the award in the TFD’s preliminary review and five entered the final list after being reviewed by a board composed of international human rights advocates, including Sima Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and a former recipient of the award, and Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute director Nisuke Ando.
None of the recommended individuals or groups were Taiwanese, TFD chief executive Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said during a question-and-answer session after the press conference.
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Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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