Reporters Without Borders, an international organization dedicated to protecting freedom of the press and the rights of journalists, won the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, a prize set by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), the executive of the foundation, yesterday announced the winner of the award, which was created this year to honor individuals or organizations that contribute to human rights and democracy in Asia.
Reporters Without Borders is the first organization to receive this honor, which comes with a US$100,000 prize and a medal.
Lin said that a total of 20 individuals and organizations -- including Chinese activists and academic groups from southeastern countries -- competed for the award. He said that to avoid controversy the foundation could not reveal the names of the competitors.
Lin said that Reporters Without Borders obtained votes from Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Bernard Kouchner, the co-founder of Doctors Without Borders and former director of France's Department of Health, and Huang Qi (黃琦), the founder of China's first Web site promoting human rights.
"Although Reporters Without Borders is not an organization based in Asia, it devotes itself to encouraging freedom of the press and protecting human rights and personal security of journalists in the world. Its work extends to the human rights movement in China and has made outstanding accomplishments in rescuing human rights activists who were persecuted or jailed," Lin said.
The organization has branches all over the world and works in close cooperation with advocates of freedom of the press.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is a non-profit and semi-official organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights in Taiwan and abroad.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng (王金平) serves as the chairman of the foundation and Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) is the vice chairman.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by