The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families has established April 28 as Child Protection Day to raise awareness of child abuse, and yesterday invited 428 families to an event at the Chianti Boulevard Plaza in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) to show their support for a society free from child abuse.
Last year, 19,174 children and teenagers were reported to have suffered abuse, meaning more than 52 children are exposed to violence and an unsafe environment each day, and the organization said that 71 percent of those cases involved the children’s parents.
“Every month, we lose forever 1.4 children, on average, to deadly child abuse. We are strongly against depriving children of their right to life. Committing suicide with children is the gravest kind of child abuse,” said fund chief executive Betty Ho (何素秋), who urged the public to care about the children around them and refer those who need help to the organization.
The campaign urges parents to refrain from physically punishing children and to either calm down when enraged by their children’s behavior, or call the organization for assistance.
The climax of the event was the playing of an audio recording made by the child protection authority, in which a father is heard scolding and beating his child in a rage as the child’s mother intervened to no avail, and was also beaten.
While the recording was aired, the participants at the event were asked to blindfold themselves to feel the horror experienced by the helpless child.
“The figure of 19,174 [cases] is probably the tip of the iceberg. It is only due to greater awareness that the number of child abuse cases reported has increased in the past three years,” Ho said.
“People are now telling parents off when they exhibit abusive behavior toward children in public, but we are hoping to further raise public consciousness,” Ho added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS