Migrant workers’ rights groups in Taiwan plan to stage a flash mob dance at Taipei Railway Station today to call for improved rights for foreign migrant workers, especially female caregivers.
The event, now in its fifth year, aims to show solidarity with the One Billion Rising campaign, a global campaign launched by playwright and activist Eve Ensler in 2012 to highlight violence against women, said Gilda Banugan, chairperson of the Taiwan chapter of Migrante International, an organization that fights for the rights of Philippine migrant workers.
The campaign, a global event held on or close to Feb. 14 each year, invites women worldwide to dance together in a call for justice and to raise awareness about sexual violence and other abuses against women.
Migrant workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, are to stage five dance performances at today’s event, including We Are Beautiful and Break the Chain, Banugan said yesterday.
“Dance is dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive, and contagious and it breaks the rules... Dance joins us and pushes us to go further and that is why it’s at the center of One Billion Rising,” Ensler, best known for her 1996 play The Vagina Monologues, was quoted as saying on this year’s One Billion Rising Web site.
Campaigners plan to use today’s gathering to urge Taiwan to include foreign domestic caregivers in its Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), to abolish the brokerage system, to ensure mandatory days off for caregivers and to enroll foreign caregivers in the nation’s labor insurance program, Banugan said.
“It’s very unfair that we are here to work and contribute to Taiwan’s economic growth, but we are not included in the Labor Standards Act,” said Banugan, who is also a domestic helper in Taiwan. “We also hope that the Philippine government will take more action to improve the rights of caregivers in Taiwan.”
As of December last year, there were more than 370,000 female migrant workers in Taiwan, she said, adding that many of them have experienced contract violations, sexual harassment and discrimination.
Jointly organized by Migrante International’s Taiwan Chapter and ATKI-Taiwan the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers, an association for Indonesian workers in Taiwan, the flash mob is to begin at 1pm in the station’s main concourse.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday demanded that Somalia reverse its decision prohibiting Taiwanese passport holders from entering or transiting through the country. Somalia said it is following the “one China” principle based on UN Resolution 2758. The ministry said that Somalia is misinterpreting the resolution under China’s instigation, creating a false impression that Taiwan is subordinate to China. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority told airlines on Tuesday last week that starting today, any passengers with passports or travel documents issued from Taiwan or its affiliated institutions would not be allowed to enter or transit through Somalia. The decision comes as Taiwan is boosting
RSS