Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Following a round-table forum with legislators and government officials, international
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu, second right, yesterday speaks at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, as Asian Pacific Refugee Rights Network chair Yiombi Thona, left, former International Association for Refugee Law Judges president Allan Mackey, third left, and Taiwan Association for Human Rights members listen. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
campaigners yesterday called for swift passage of a national refugee act.
The forum in Taipei was sponsored by the Legislative Yuan’s International Human Rights Caucus, the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.
New Zealander Allan Mackey, former president of the International Association for Refugee Law Judges, said he and other international participants at the forum were all strongly encouraged by the legislature’s taking up of the proposed act.
Passage of a refugee act would represent the completion of the “third leg” of a human rights “stool” that includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture, he said, adding that asylum should be considered as a right — not a privileged exception to immigration regulations.
[FULL STORY]
