The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in New York on Thursday hosted a seminar on providing sustainable assistance to Syrian refugees.
The COVID-19 pandemic and Syria’s economic crisis has worsened the situation for Syrian refugees, which makes global assistance all the more important, office director James Lee (李光章) said in opening the seminar.
Taiwan has worked with like-minded countries and partners in offering humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees and implemented more than 60 projects over the past eight years, including basic education, vocational training for women and psychological counseling for adolescents, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Permanent Representative to the UN Inga Rhonda King said that Taiwan and its partners have worked to alleviate the pain and suffering of refugees.
Climate change and the pandemic have affected refugees the most, she said, adding that this highlights the necessity to increase humanitarian aid.
Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens founder Chiu Chen-yu (裘振宇) talked about his experiences in assisting refugees in Reyhanli, Turkey, near the Syrian border.
High walls, which separate the countries, could have been put to better use in providing humanitarian aid, Chiu said.
When he helped build the center five years ago, he said he was astonished to find that it was the first facility for refugees in the area, despite a civil war having already ravaged Syria for six years at the time.
“We still have much to do,” he said, urging people from all over the world — regardless of religion, sex or age — to come together and help alleviate the crisis.
“The reason that 8 million refugees have led to a crisis for others is because no one feels they are responsible. If, on the other hand, everyone felt they had to be responsible, such things would not happen,” Chiu said.
Citing a fundraiser he held last year as an example, Chiu said that many people felt that it was a wasted effort, as Taiwan is far away from Syria.
With the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he raised US$1 million in six months, providing the center’s finances some reprieve, Chiu said.
The international community has not done enough for Syrian refugees, Sovereign Order of Malta permanent observer to the UN Paul Beresford-Hill and Columbia University Center for Sustainable Development executive director Yanis Ben Amor said.
The international community should work on the application of new technology to help refugees, they added.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS