Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu made the remarks at an international conference held by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and Taiwan Society of International Law in Taipei.
The aim of the conference was for Taiwan to learn from experiences shared by other countries in the region and help Taiwan establish her own "National Human Rights Commission."
"My biggest wish as a convener of the advisory group on human rights in the presidential office is to see the establishment of the Commission," Lu said in her opening remarks.
The government proposed that the commission be established in 2000, but the relevant bills have been blocked in the logjammed legislature.
Lu said a new government-sponsored bill on establishing the commission is slated to be sent to the legislature for review next month. She called on legislators from all parties to enact the bill into law as soon as possible.
"The political confrontation which resulted in irrational boycotts by the opposition of the government's bills in the past five years has also blocked the commission," attorney Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said at the conference.
In response to Yu, Kieren Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), said that the forums' 17 members can help Taiwan overcome hurdles to the establishment of a commission.
"All our members have had the experience of encountering either support or objection from governments or opposition parties," he said.
The APF was established in 1996 as a non-profit organization that supports the establishment and development of national institutions to protect and promote human rights in the region.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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