Press Enter to the main content

2022 Indigenous Rights Forum

  • facebook icon
  • twitter icon
  • line icon
  • plurk icon
  • Print
  • Back to previous page
  • Online Date:2022/09/28
  • Modification Time:2022/10/05 15:18:52
  • Hits: 991

August 1, 2022—Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the day on which the Constitution rectified the designated term for Taiwan’s original inhabitants from “mountain compatriots” to “indigenous peoples.” This week also happens to be Indigenous Rights Week, during which the CIP and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will co-host the 2022 Indigenous Rights Forum at the Grand Hotel Taipei. President Tsai Ing-Wen, Premier Su Tseng-Chang, and NHRC Chairperson Chen Chu all spoke at the opening ceremony.

The full text of Minister Icyang’s speech is as follows:

President Tsai, Premier Su, Chairperson Chen, diplomatic representatives, members of the Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan, and Examination Yuan, mayors of townships, towns, and cities, district executives, distinguished guests, and all our friends on the live stream, Hello! Nga'ay Ho!

August 1st is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the day when the Constitution rectified the designated term for Taiwan’s first inhabitants from “mountain compatriots” to “indigenous peoples.” After a decade of petitions and rallies that began in 1984, the Constitution finally rectified the term “mountain compatriots,” which has negative connotations and has been linked to discrimination and attempts at assimilation, to “aborigines” during the third revision of the constitution in 1994, then changed it to “indigenous peoples” during the fourth revision in 1997 to emphasize the concept of our collective rights.

The success of the rectification movement 28 years ago was the result of a joint effort between the indigenous peoples, church organizations, and members of the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan at the time, together with the support and assistance of many other key figures. When Premier Su was serving as Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1994, he agreed to incorporate the Indigenous Peoples clause into the DPP’s version of the amended constitution, as well as add it to the agenda of the negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, which prompted both parties to submit their own proposals for the constitutional amendment. In addition to co-sponsoring the proposal in the DPP National Party Congress and the National Assembly, Chairperson Chen joined us in the streets at our rallies and fought together with us to achieve our goal of rectification.

Since the incorporation of the Indigenous Peoples clause into the Constitution, our other demands have been gradually fulfilled. Since the CIP was established in 1996, we have formulated numerous policies to protect the rights of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, the most important of which is the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law, which will be discussed this afternoon. When President Tsai assumed office in 2016, she apologized to the indigenous peoples on behalf of the government and founded the Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee. In the six years since, five important laws have either been enacted or amended, including the Indigenous Languages Development Act and the Education Act for Indigenous Peoples. In addition, the Logging Ban Compensation for Lands Reserved for Indigenous Peoples Act has an annual earmark of NT$ 2.1 billion in total, which has benefitted more than 42,000 indigenous peoples. Furthermore, this year’s budget for cultural health centers to take care of the elderly has been increased to NT$ 1.258 billion, showing the considerable progress made in protecting the rights of indigenous peoples.

In closing, I would like to wish you all good health. Aray Han Ako Kita a Mapolong. Thank you.