Taiwan student wins human rights award

2016/08/30

A Taiwan student received a Human Rights Hero Award from Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Youth for Human Rights International Aug. 27 during its annual summit at U.N. headquarters in New York, the first time a person from the country has been granted the honor.

Liao Chien-hung, a fifth-year medical student at China Medical University in central Taiwan’s Taichung City, was presented with the award by YHRI’s founder and president, Mary Shuttleworth, on the concluding day of the International Human Rights Summit. According to the group’s website, the honor acknowledges those whose courage and determination have “raised the bar on human rights in their respective nations and communities.”

The student was named one of this year’s two recipients for his long-term efforts to promote human rights awareness by, for example, delivering lectures in schools on the subject of bullying, as well as his participation in medical missions to Nepal. Liao was one of eight youth delegates representing the Chunghwa Association for Human Rights, the local YHRI chapter, at the event in New York.

Simone Hsu, founder of CAHR, delivered a presentation on human rights education in Taiwan’s schools at the three-day summit. During her address, she highlighted a survey conducted by the association indicating that 86 percent of students feel more confident speaking up for themselves and others in the face of bullying after learning about the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Founded in 2001, YHRI has more than 100 chapters around the world. About 300 participants from more than 60 countries and territories attended this year’s summit to discuss human rights issues in areas such as education and crime prevention and observe the presentation of the Human Rights Hero Awards.

Taiwan ranked second in Asia behind Japan in the 2016 Freedom in the World Report, a survey of political rights and civil liberties in 196 countries and territories released by U.S.-based nongovernmental organization Freedom House. The nation has been classified as free in the annual report for 18 consecutive years.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=247511&ctNode=2194&mp=9)