Former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊) is to be appointed as Control Yuan president today, while doubling as head of the nation’s newly established National Human Rights Commission.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has drawn up a list of seven other people to serve on the commission, in line with the Organic Act of the Control Yuan National Human Rights Commission (監察院國家人權委員會組織法), which was passed by the Legislative Yuan in December last year and promulgated in January.
Under the act, the 10-member commission is to be headed by the Control Yuan president and composed of seven Control Yuan members, with its other two members to be selected from candidates nominated by the commission members and replaced annually.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
Chen, a Democratic Progressive Party member and a former Kaohsiung mayor, was imprisoned in the wake of the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, when the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime arrested pro-democracy activists.
Other commission members to double as new Control Yuan members are Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), a long-time women’s rights activist; former League for Persons with Disabilities secretary-general Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋); Youth Rights and Welfare secretary-general Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華); and Antonio Hong (鴻義章), a member of the Presidential Office’s Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee, said sources familiar with the topic, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The new Control Yuan members are to assume their duties from Aug. 1.
The other commission members are current Control Yuan members: Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲), a long-time activist for the rights of migrant workers and people with disabilities; former Judical Reform Foundation executive officer Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠); and environmental and human rights activist Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), the sources said.
Tsai’s list nominated people with expertise and practical experience in various areas of human rights so that the commission would be able to competently handle a variety of rights issues, they added.
The sources said that Tsai nominated four women and three men to be on the commission, in line with the Organic Act of the Control Yuan (監察院組織法), which states that the “composition shall be diverse and include representatives from different ethnic groups or professional fields” and “no gender shall constitute less than one-third of the members.”
The Control Yuan, a body with wide-ranging government oversight powers, has 29 members, including a president and a vice president, who are nominated by the president and approved by the Legislative Yuan.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
NO SHAME IN RETREAT: Hikers should consider turning back if the weather turns bad or if they do not have sufficient equipment, the Taroko park headquarters said Two people died of hypothermia over the weekend while hiking on Hsuehshan (雪山), prompting park authorities to remind hikers to bring proper equipment and consider their physical condition before setting out in the cold weather. Temperatures dropped over the weekend, bringing snow to high altitudes in Shei-pa National Park. One hiker, surnamed Lin (林), who on Friday was traveling with a group of six along the Hsuehshan west ridge trail, lost consciousness due to hypothermia and died, the Shei-pa National Park Headquarters said. On Saturday, another hiker, surnamed Tien (田), in a group of five on the southeast of the west
RSS