Leaders of Siraya communities yesterday told the Taipei High Administrative Court that the Council of Indigenous Peoples was working to deny recognition of their people and refusing to grant them indigenous status.
Council-appointed lawyer Chen Ching-wei (陳敬暐) said the Siraya people do not meet the requirements to have indigenous status, citing provisions of the Status Act for Indigenous Peoples (原住民身分法).
The act and its amendments were designed to protect the rights of specific groups and provide state resources to recognized communities.
Photo: Wen Yu-te, Taipei Times
Tainan Siraya Culture Association secretary-general Uma Talavan (萬淑娟) said that when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) issued her historic official apology to all of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples on Aug. 1, 2016, she promised to recognize Pingpu Aboriginal groups and include them as indigenous peoples under the council.
Uma appealed to Tsai to keep her promise, saying that council officials have continued to deny the Siraya indigenous status and exclude them from the council, countering the president’s stated policy in breach of the Constitution.
Uma and more than 300 registered Siraya descendants in 2015 filed the lawsuit to obtain indigenous status, saying that the council’s actions to deny their recognition violated their rights, as it is not for the government to define indigenous peoples.
In doing so, the government and the council have breached international conventions and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the lawsuit says.
The council, established in 1996, is the highest central government body tasked with protecting the rights, and providing social welfare and benefits to Taiwan’s indigenous groups.
At its inception, the council oversaw policies for nine Aboriginal groups, which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called “mountain compatriots”: the Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Tao and Tsou peoples.
Since then, the government has added the Thao, Kavalan, Truku, Sakizaya, Sediq, Hla’alua and Kanakanavu communities to the list of recognized Aboriginal groups.
However, over the past two decades, the government has steadfastly refused to recognize the Siraya and other Pingpu groups as indigenous peoples. The council has excluded them and rejected their demands for recognition.
While the Siraya lost a first ruling in a lower court, they appealed and the Supreme Administrative Court last year ordered a retrial, with judges saying that “indigenous people and their ethnic status is derived from family bloodline; they were born with it. It is not granted by the government’s authority, nor is it given by registration at a government office... Therefore, a retrial is ordered, requiring further review and investigation.”
Besides the Siraya, the other Pingpu groups, who live in rural areas in clan-based village communities, include the Babuza, Hoanya, Kaxabu, Ketagalan, Makatao, Pazeh, Papora, Taokas and Tavorlong communities.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS