A special ceremony was held at the National Human Rights Museum (NHRM) on Dec. 10 to mark this year's Human Rights Day. Those present at the ceremony included President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Presidential Office senior advisor Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), Culture Minister Lee Yung-te (李永得), Deputy Culture Minister Lee Ching-hwi (李靜慧), National Human Rights Commission Vice Chairperson Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Director of the National Human Rights Museum Hung Shih-fang (洪世芳), Taipei 228 Memorial Museum director-general Hsiao Ming-chih (蕭明治), White Terror victim Chang Chang-mei (張常美), and about 200 political victims and their families.
At the ceremony, Minister Lee issued certifications to thank those who donated their cultural collections, including senior advisor Yao, political victims Wu Shui-teng (吳水燈) and Kao Chin-lang (高金郎), as well as political victims' families.
In his speech, Minister Lee stated that NHRM organizes the ceremony every year to express the highest degree of respect for the forebears who were politically persecuted, sacrificed their lives, property, and personal freedom in the past, and at the same time, to re-examine and reflect on the progress in achieving human rights goals and the direction for the future with universal values of human rights.
Minister Lee pointed out that the Transitional Justice Commission (TJC) has completed its part of the tasks this year. As the nation’s transitional justice effort has been highly valued by President Tsai and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the Executive Yuan will be in charge of coordinating the Transitional Justice Board, and the Ministries will be assigned different tasks, so as to carry on with the work of national transitional justice. MOC will continue the important work of promoting human rights education, reviewing and maintaining the Historical Sites of Injustice, and preserving oral history, to name a few.
In terms of promoting human rights education, Minister Lee specially mentioned several works based on true stories of political victims, including the comic book "Son of Formosa (來自清水的孩子)," the film "Untold Herstory (流麻溝十五號)," the virtual reality film "The Man Who Couldn't Leave (無法離開的人)," and the novel "Still Life in White (白色畫像)."
Minister Lee stressed that MOC will speed up various projects, investigations and promotion on the work of oral history and the review for the Historical Sites of Injustice. It is hoped that the history written by forebears with blood and tear will be fully preserved and continue to be passed on.