Taipei Times
Date: Jul 07, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Legislators and academics deliberated on the need for a draft bill on transitional justice for Aborigines at a legislative meeting yesterday, with several speakers calling on the government to allocate funds to save Aboriginal languages, return traditional territories taken by past government administrations and grant official status to Pingpu Aborigines.
The hearing was held to address Aboriginal issues after draft legislation on transitional justice last month cleared review at the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, which some lawmakers said mainly focused on human rights abuses and atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the Martial Law era, and did not go far enough on historical injustices suffered by Aboriginal communities.
In yesterday’s first of two hearing sessions, most participants agreed on the need to set up a special committee to promote the restoration of rights for Aborigines, which would be placed under the authority of the Presidential Office and have the power to make recommendation reports. [FULL STORY]