A Taiwan Declaration for Religious Freedom was announced yesterday following an international conference in Taipei attended by activists, legislators, government representatives and religious leaders from around the world.
Participants in the Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum swelled a Legislative Yuan auditorium as they stood for the reading of the declaration by Freedom House president Mark Lagon.
The declaration said that freedom of thought, conscience and religion was an inalienable human right and called for the review of any laws limiting freedom of conscience and expression.
Delegates promised to work to protect the rights of religious minorities while publicaly condemning any acts of intolerance, discrimination, persecution or violence perpetuated in the name of religion.
“I think it will be a roadmap for those who are from restricted nations,” said China Aid president Bob Fu (傅希秋), whose organization jointly hosted the forum along with former vice president Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) Democratic Pacific Union.
The three-day event is set to conclude today and has been attended by advocates, politicians and religious leaders from 26 nations.
Fu called the forum a “platform” to allow networking between advocates in free and restricted nations, calling the resulting declaration “a covenant for us to stick together until true religious freedom is fully realized in every corner of the Asia-Pacific region.”
The Democratic Pacific Union had been instrumental in raising support for the forum and helping to facilitate participant visas, he said, adding that as a forum Taiwan underscored the need for China to open further.
“China is one of the worst persecutors, and I think it is such a contrast that freedom can be realized here in a similar culture, so China has no excuse,” Fu said, adding it was “regretful” that representatives of Tibetan Buddhists and Xinjiang Muslims had been unable to attend after being “discouraged” by the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The Reverend Bernard Munono Muyembe, an official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that protecting religious freedom in the region was particularly important.
“It is imperative to assure that in Asia – in the Pacific and elsewhere — every human being, regardless of social origin, race, language and culture, has their humanity and inalienable dignity respected, which includes an inherent right to freely choose their religion, to profess it and to worship individually and in community with others who share the same faith, without being subjected to discriminatory treatment as a second class citizen,” he said.
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
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
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