Exiled Tibetans who arrived between 2009 and June 29 are to be granted legal status entitling them to work and live in Taiwan, following the Legislative Yuan’s passage yesterday of an amendment to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法).
The existing law stipulates that “stateless people from India or Nepal who entered Taiwan between May 21, 1999, and Dec. 31, 2008, and who cannot be repatriated may be allowed to reside in Taiwan by the National Immigration Agency if their status has been verified by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.”
The amendment to Article 16 of the Immigration Act stretches the timeframe to June 29 this year.
Those covered by the amendment can apply for a permanent resident card or a national identification card after meeting residency terms.
A group of Tibetans who staged a protest outside the Executive Yuan on Oct. 21 to highlight their plight since coming to Taiwan after 2008 will be granted by the same rights as those who arrived earlier.
The group in September 2014 began seeking the help of legislators and the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, saying they were unable to renew the passports they used to travel to Taiwan from Nepal.
The government had made similar one-off resolutions on the legal status of exiled Tibetans in 2000 and 2008.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kolas Yotaka, who proposed the amendment, said insofar as Taiwan has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2009, “it is an obligation and responsibility for Taiwan to protect stateless people’s rights to residency and work.”
She said that the exiled Tibetans had escaped from China, where persecution of Tibetans is grave and more than 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in protest against Chinese rule and more than 6,800 have been arrested since 2009.
“The legislature has the obligation to establish an institution to safeguard democracy and human rights through legislation,” she said.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said that Tibetans married to Taiwanese face even higher hurdles than those set for Chinese and other foreign spouses, and called for further revisions to existing regulations.
Separately, the legislature passed the Act Governing Post-Conviction DNA Testing (刑事案件確定後去氧核醣核酸鑑定條例), which states that the purpose of the act is to “maintain the correctness of criminal verdicts, avoid wrongful convictions and protect human rights.”
Taiwan has been using DNA testing for criminal cases since 1992 and the act is to institutionalize the testing in the process of criminal trials, the legislation said.
Additional Reporting by Hsiao Ting-fang
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS