Along with several other groups promoting children’s rights, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) yesterday protested the downgrading of the government authority in charge of children’s affairs, urging the government to do more to protect children.
“Children’s welfare and protection is a very complicated issue that involves different government institutions — including the judicial, welfare and even economic authorities — so we would like the government to have an institution that could help integrate and coordinate efforts to protect children’s rights,” TFCF executive director Betty Ho (何素秋) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning. “We are quite worried that the government authorities in charge of children’s affairs are not high enough in the administrative hierarchy to handle everything.”
Ho was referring to the dissolution of the former Children’s Welfare Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior in June as part of the latest administrative restructuring. Matters originally handled by the bureau are now shared among various subdivisions of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Ho said the nation’s birth rate is now the lowest in the world, but the incidence of child abuse has reached a record high in the past two years, with about 20,000 children abused every year.
The Bureau of Children’s Welfare was a specialized, third-level central government bureau. However, authorities now handling child protection matters are below the third level and are not specialized organizations.
TFCF social resources director Liu Hsiu-feng (林秀鳳) agreed.
“People nowadays are having fewer children, the population is aging and the average salary is on the decline,” Lin said. “If we don’t put more effort into helping children and juveniles now, the future of our society is quite worrisome.”
The groups said that in many European countries, such as the UK, Germany, France and Sweden, children’s affairs are handled by second-level administrative organizations, while in the US, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, third-level government authorities are in charge.
“We should not fall behind these countries,” a TFCF press statement said.
Since July, as many as 360,000 people — including government officials and business leaders — have signed a petition to support the TFCF’s call.
The Control Yuan issued corrective measures to both the central and local governments in June in response to poor coordination among agencies in dealing with cases of abuse, saying there is an urgent need to improve both vertical and horizontal communication and to establish a committee under the Cabinet, Ho said.
“The children and youth rights promotion committee could act as a platform for facilitating communication between different government agencies,” National Taiwan University social work professor Cheng Li-chen (鄭麗珍) said.
“It would be a mistake to assume that a low birth rate has rendered the concentration of resources for children’s welfare unnecessary. On the contrary, building a children-friendly environment would encourage more people to have babies,” Cheng said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS