Members of youth rights and welfare groups and high-school students yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, urging the Ministry of Health and Welfare to amend what they called the “outdated” Child and Juvenile Welfare and Rights Protection Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法).
Since the act was enacted 15 years ago, no major amendment has been passed. The legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday held a meeting to discuss amendments proposed by several legislators.
Before the meeting, about a dozen people held placards outside the legislature that read: “The act cannot wait, bring forth the comprehensive draft amendment bill” and “the protection of children and adolescents needs to be forward-looking, the legislative process shouldn’t be slow.”
Photo: Chen Chih-cheng, Taipei Times
“I keep seeing tragic news about children online, yet the laws meant to protect them have not been updated in years,” high-school student Lu Chen-shao (呂晨韶) said.
Facing emerging challenges such as cybersecurity, digital privacy and mental health issues, children need a systemic response, Lu said, adding that the ministry should propose comprehensive draft amendments for substantial progress.
The ministry in a public hearing in January last year proposed an amendment, but has not introduced any revised provisions, so government agencies lack legal basis to deal with relevant issues, Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare deputy secretary-general Chang Yo-chia (張祐嘉) said.
Discussions on amending the act have continued for a year, but the progress is unclear and young people’s voices have been absent, EdYouth president Tsai Chi-yeh (蔡其曄) said.
Without a comprehensive draft bill by the government, the discussions cannot proceed, Tsai said.
The act is outdated in some aspects including mental health support and the protection of youth participation rights, he said.
The act struggles to address new world issues, such as data privacy and security threats in the rapidly evolving online environment, combined with insufficient on-campus mental health resources, which leave young people without immediate and comprehensive support systems when facing pressure or crises, Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy director Alice Yang (楊姿潁) said.
The groups urged the ministry to expedite the introduction of comprehensive draft amendments to the act for review by the legislature and the public, demanding that the legislative committee begin a clause-by-clause review immediately upon receiving the proposal.
The groups yesterday handed a symbolic petition envelope to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lin Yue-chin (林月琴), committee convenor, and Fan Yun (范雲), as the lawmakers pledged to keep pushing for amendments to address the act’s shortcomings.
Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said at the committee meeting that there have been about 10 minor revisions to the act since its enactment in 2011.
To align the act with the spirit of Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ministry has been working on a major amendment bill since last year, and it would be proposed next month, Shih said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS