The National Defense University was fined NT$1 million (US$31,878) for discriminating against a student with HIV and forcing him to drop out of school, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
After the university learned that the student, named A-li (a pseudonym), had tested positive for HIV during an annual health examination in early 2012, it asked him to keep his meal tray, eating utensils and clothes separate from those of other students and barred him from taking swimming classes, while teachers often suggested that he drop out of school.
The hospital that conducted the exam had given the university the test results without A-li’s consent.
He was expelled the following year, shortly before he was due to graduate, for bad conduct, including having a bad attitude and disrespecting teachers.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the CDC filing an administrative suit against the university over A-li’s case, but the Taipei High Administrative Court in March ruled in favor of the school in part because the university falls under the remit of the Ministry of National Defense, not the health ministry.
The health ministry and the CDC appealed the case to the Supreme Administrative Court in April.
As the lawsuit has continued for two years, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) sent a letter to the CDC last month, expressing concern about the case and citing verdicts of cases in four nations about the right to education for people with HIV/AIDS.
The CDC said it had decided to fine the university for contravening the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act (人類免疫缺乏病毒傳染防治及感染者權益保障條例).
CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the fine is the first the agency has issued on the grounds of education discrimination, as well as the biggest fine it has ever imposed.
If the school is willing to reach an out-of-court settlement in the administrative suit with the health ministry over the case, the CDC would not issue the fine, Chou said.
However, if it continues to refuse to reinstate the student or reach an out-of-court settlement, it could be fined repeatedly, he said.
“We want to stress that we will not give up any chance of communicating, of achieving a win-win situation, or even a triple-win situation — meaning that the university, the student and the government agencies can all will in pursuing human rights for people with HIV/AIDS,” Chou said.
“If we cannot allow infected people to feel that they can expect a good future in society, then how can we expect them to accept HIV/AIDS screening and cooperate in HIV/AIDS prevention,” he said.
The university yesterday said that it “has never discriminated against people with HIV/AIDS and no student has been expelled from the school for having HIV/AIDS.”
A-li was punished because he had violated the school’s information security rules and did not achieve the minimum standard for morality grades, and he was expelled according to assessment guidelines and a resolution of its disciplinary committee, the school said.
Additional reporting by staff writer and CNA
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS