Representatives from human rights organizations yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to pass a draft bill on refugees as soon as possible.
At a news conference held to urge the swift passage of the bill, the groups played video footage of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) saying “freedom and human rights are values that Taiwanese cherish the most. Taiwan should not keep itself away from other nations when facing the issue of refugees,” during a charity event held for refugees in Taipei in June last year.
The draft bill — which would allow foreign or stateless victims of political or religious repression, war or natural disaster, who have been forced to leave their homelands to apply for asylum to gain the right to reside in Taiwan if their application is approved by a review committee — passed an initial review by a Legislative Yuan committee in July last year.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, representatives from the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and several other groups said that the human rights issue is not just an opportunity to gain publicity and Tsai should follow through with legislation.
As Taiwan claims to be a nation founded on human rights and has adopted content from international human rights conventions into law, the government should at least try to help people who seek asylum rather than just immediately repatriate them, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said.
Although Taiwan has not passed a refugee law, the nation does not practice non-refoulement either, so the government should pass the draft legislation as soon as possible, Covenants Watch executive member Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) said.
“This is not just about passing a law; it also about creating a beacon in Asia,” Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) said.
There are hardly any safe national borders around China, and kidnapping is often heard of, so if Taiwan passes the legislation, it would become a relatively safe place for such refugees to stay, he said.
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