Taipei should be aiming to have comprehensive engagement with the international community on human rights issues to enhance progress in Taiwan’s efforts in rights matters, National Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday at the opening of a rights forum.
This year’s edition of the commission’s Human Rights Thematic Forum began yesterday at the Chang Yung-fa Foundation’s International Convention Center in Taipei and was attended by local and international experts, discussing a wide range of topics including the rights of an aging population, national human rights institutions and how government agencies can collaborate with civic groups.
Chen said that the region’s Asia-Pacific Forum greatly assisted the commission’s establishment and significantly helped with two online sessions after it was created.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Since its establishment in 2020, the commission has undergone five review processes regarding Taiwan’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Chen said.
The commission has held 78 events similar to yesterday’s forum, and has interacted with more than 452 local groups on a variety of rights issues, she added.
“We must hear the voices and opinions from all sectors, and such opinions must be accorded their due respect,” Chen said.
The commission’s primary job is to bridge civic groups and the government, and ensure that Taipei can present practical policies that respond to the appeals of civic groups, she added.
Citing the UN’s 1991 Principle for Older Persons, Chen said the commission is aware that the rights of an aging population are a responsibility the government must shoulder as the percentage of the population that is older than age 65 increases rapidly.
The commission “does not represent the government,” and it aspires to become the nation’s conscience and an entity disadvantaged Taiwanese can count on, she said.
Regarding Taiwan Association for Human Rights Director-General Shih Yi-hsiang’s (施逸翔) concerns that the government was “indirectly discriminating” against people with COVID-19 by prohibiting them from voting in today’s elections, Chen said she would discuss the matter with government officials.
Shih said that while public health is an important issue, the Executive Yuan should explain its decision when voting accommodations could have been made.
The government must consider how to handle unexpected situations where human rights are suppressed, he added.
Additional reporting by Yang Cheng-yu
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Taipei Department of Transportation discouraged YouBike 2.0E users from taking them on long-distance trips after a Taipei city councilor said that riders often use the new electric bike, YouBike 2.0E, to climb Yangmingshan (陽明山). Taipei earlier this year began offering the first 30 minutes of YouBike 2.0 rentals for free, with Taipei and New Taipei offering the YouBike 2.0E on Aug. 30 to encourage rider usage. For YouBike 2.0, the rate is NT$10 per 30 minutes within the first four hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes for five to eight hours and NT$40 per 30 minutes after eight hours. Meanwhile, for e-bikes,
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山). The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said. “While Taiwan has up to 30 gigawatts of potential deep geothermal energy, with an estimated 10 gigawatts being economically viable, only by digging wells can we determine the actual amount of commercially viable geothermal energy,” Liao said at the project’s opening ceremony. Data collected during and after the excavation process would be used for future
HACKERS’ MARKET: Chat logs about Taiwan and documents outlining ways to take over online accounts were leaked from a company that sells data from hacks Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists found 577 leaked documents which show that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, a documentary released last month by Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. The filmmakers behind Tracking China’s Leaked Documents said they spent six months visiting seven countries, including Taiwan, where they interviewed members of TeamT5, a malware research and cybersecurity firm, which found the leaked documents. TeamT5 said they discovered a string of mysterious URLs on the social media platform X, which they suspected could be accounts created by hackers or people who leaked data, which led