Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) yesterday announced that a National Human Rights Museum is to be formally founded on May 17 next year in Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park (景美人權文化園區) in New Taipei City and the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park on Green Island (綠島).
Cheng made the announcement at an event marking International Human Rights Day at the Taipei Guest House that was attended by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), human rights campaigner Linda Arrigo and a number of survivors of political persecution and their families.
The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the survivors of political persecution, who three decades ago during the Martial Law era resisted the authoritarian regime and bought the freedom Taiwanese enjoy today with their blood and tears, Cheng said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Maintaining the country’s democratic way of life requires that people remember their history, she said.
Confronting the country’s history of human rights violations and making restitution is not about fanning political partisanship, but rather a necessary act to reaffirm that human rights are the core value of democratic societies, she said.
The establishment of the National Human Rights Museum “shows that this administration believes the country’s history of political persecution should be confronted at the level of the state,” she said.
“Building a museum in a place of past injustice will help transform a place of historical trauma into a place of human rights education for modern society,” she said.
Tsai in her speech said she hopes the country’s aspirations for transitional justice will become a social moment that brings Taiwanese together and helps them forge a common future.
Social consensus on reconciliation is a prerequisite for transitional justice and the authoritarian remnants of the past must be dealt with through the democratic process, she said.
Tsai also commented on the passage into law of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), which media reports said required that schools and roads named after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) be renamed.
“The experience of transitional justice in other countries shows that transitional justice involves the past of the entire country and society,” she said. “It would be a pity if our shared pain is simplified to the issue of changing names.”
Tsai did not elaborate on the issue.
Additional reporting by CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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
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