Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-29
Taiwan’s legislature passed an act on Tuesday that will establish a national human rights
(CNA)
museum.
The museum will include sites where political prisoners were held during Taiwan’s period under authoritarian rule, which lasted from the 1940’s to the end of martial law in 1987. The culture ministry will administer the museum.
On Wednesday, Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun said the act is a sign that the government is facing up to the human rights abuses of Taiwan’s past. However, Cheng said, the museum represents just one step on the road to transitional justice. She said full-scale transitional justice would include restoring historical truth, rehabilitation and compensation for victims, and dismantling the symbols of authoritarianism.
Cheng said she hopes the legislature will quickly pass a statute which would provide a legal basis for promoting transitional justice. Cheng said that would cover things like transforming Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which commemorates the leader who oversaw most of the authoritarian period in Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
