Civil rights groups from East Asian nations participated in a regional session of the International Tribunal on Eviction yesterday as part of efforts to encourage international dialogue and raise awareness of housing rights.
About 100 people gathered for a presentation of eight forced displacement cases before a panel of five jurors at the former site of Taipei’s Huaguang Community (華光社區) — which was demolished in 2013 in controversial circumstances — with tents for different groups erected across the plot.
The tribunal is an opinion court organized by campaigners which seeks to raise awareness of housing rights, with yesterday’s jurors including Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Frida Tsai (蔡培慧) and Taoyuan District Court judge Sun Kian-Ti (孫建智), along with three jurors from international rights groups.
Jurors asked questions and made suggestions to the campaigners representing cases ranging from Hong Kong’s rooftop tenants to Bangkok’s Pom Mahakan community case to Taiwan’s land development plans connected with a proposed expansion of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
“We express our solidarity with people who have lost their houses and might lose them in the future. We are here to give them a voice, not to talk on their behalf, but to have them talk about themselves,” said Soha Ben Slama, one of the international jurors and the Tunisian coordinator for the International Alliance of Inhabitants, a social movement network.
“Even though the tribunal does not have any legal effect, it can help people see the seriousness of the problem, because these kind of cases do not just occur domestically,” Sun said, adding that local judges have often avoided using international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which was passed by the Legislative Yuan in 2009.
“These kinds of event help us see that violations of housing rights are everywhere and are more serious than we imagine. This is an international human rights issue and we all can do something to address it,” Sun said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan