Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod urged the legislature yesterday to accelerate the process of legislation under the Aboriginal Basic Law (原住民族基本法) in a bid to better protect Aboriginal rights.
Icyang made the call in response to the UN General Assembly's adoption of the Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
After a prolonged struggle by indigenous rights activists from all around the world, the UN declaration -- which outlines basic indigenous rights to land, culture and self-determination -- was adopted by the UN General Assembly earlier this month.
Icyang welcomed the adoption of the declaration yesterday and said its core values are in line with the Aboriginal Basic Law.
"About 90 percent of the content in the declaration is already covered in our Aboriginal Basic Law," Icyang said at a news conference. "We're working toward the same goal, and thus we welcome the adoption."
However, Icyang also urged the legislature to collaborate to better provide better protection of Aboriginal rights.
"Despite the passage of the Aboriginal Basic Law, we still need 10 pieces of sublegislation to provide details on its execution," he said.
For instance, the law protects Aborigines' right to land in their traditional tribal domains, but the boundaries of the domains need to be clarified, Icyang said.
"Several draft bills were already sent for legislative review. However, they are still stuck in the legislative backlog," he said. "We would like to urge the legislature to accelerate the review process to better protect Aboriginal rights."
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS