Following the nation’s adoption of a UN convention directed at eliminating sex discrimination, the government should take the lead in eliminating all discrimination against women, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator said yesterday.
With the entry into force last month of the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW), which was adopted by the UN in 1979, all government organizations should eliminate gender-based discrimination, DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said.
The CEDAW stipulates that all government organizations should establish specialized panels to oversee the implementation of the convention and also recommends the legislature establish a committee to deal with gender equality.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The CEDAW Alliance, a women’s rights organizations umbrella group, also said the government should adhere to CEDAW, pointing especially to Item One in the appendix, which states: “The five yuans are responsible for making a list of implementation measures.”
Yu said she and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) will propose an amendment to the Organic Law of Committees of the Legislative Yuan (立法院各委員會組織法) to require that at least one-third of the legislative committee conveners are women.
The legislature currently has eight standing committees, and under the Organic Law of Committees of the Legislative Yuan, each committee appoints two conveners, elected by members of that committee for each sitting.
In other words, the amendment would stipulate that of a total of 16 conveners, at least six must be women.
At present only the Executive Yuan has a Gender Equality Committee, and Yu urged the other yuans to follow suit, adding that she had already sent a proposal to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on the establishment of a Gender Equality Committee.
The committee would evaluate how laws and budgets would impact gender equality issues and give these evaluations to legislators for reference.
Yu said that Wang had told her he would give the proposal to staff members for further study.
National Union of Taiwan Women’s Associations secretary-general Ho Pi-chen (何碧珍) also said that civilian gender equality groups were urging all five yuans to establish CEDAW oversight committees as soon as possible, adding that the Legislative Yuan should inspect whether any laws violate CEDAW.
The Examination Yuan should also include CEDAW-related material in national examinations and the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee should be tasked with managing national reports on CEDAW-related matters, she said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS