Through music, Amnesty International (AI) Taiwan and the Asia- Pacific Youth Network hope to pass on messages and raise public awareness about human rights at a concert outside a popular night market in Taipei tonight.
“Music has been a quite effective way for us to get our message across to the public — especially to the young people, that's why we’re trying to raise public awareness about human rights through a concert right outside a night market on Friday night,” AI Taiwan director Wang Hsing-chung (王興中) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
He said that one of the focuses of the event was to tell young people that they were entitled to the rights stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which were ratified by the Legislative Yuan and became legally binding last year.
Another message that the organizers of the concert wish to send out is a demand for dignity for everyone, he said.
“We believe everyone should be entitled to the same basic rights, including the economically disadvantaged,” Wang said. “Many people living in poverty are deprived of some basic rights, such as access to clean water and to medicine.”
“If you take a closer look, you may find that some people are living in poverty because their rights have been deprived of by the government in the first place,” Wang added.
For instance, minority groups in some countries may be living in poverty because of discriminatory government policies, he said. Hence, the audience at the concert would be asked to brainstorm on what makes up human dignity and think about whether everyone in society is living with fundamental dignity.
Singers and bands that have long been involved in human rights campaigns — including Kou Chou Ching (拷秋勤), Country Boys (農村武裝青年) and Suming — will be performing at the concert, which takes place from 7pm to 9pm tonight at Shida Park (師大公園), located at the intersection of Shida Road and Pucheng Street, right outside the entrance of the Shida Night Market (師大夜市) in Taipei.
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