At the issuing ceremony of the human rights postage stamps today (December 8, 2023), Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chu Chen, announced that the NHRC had co-operated with Chunghwa Post to release four human rights postage stamps. In addition to jointly commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), she also expressed her hope for nobody to be alone in the pursuit of human rights in the future and that everybody should join hands and work together for progress.
This set of four human rights postage stamps, with a face value of NT$6, conveys the themes of the UDHR, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In addition to displaying the works from the first NHRC Human Rights Poster Design Competition, the issuing ceremony also opened with a sand art performance, in which a large projector screen was used to display, in exquisite detail, the artworks created to depict the UDHR and the three human rights conventions.
Chairperson Chu Chen drew attention to the fact that Chunghwa Post had issued commemorative stamps of United States’ First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who drafted the UDHR, 59 years earlier on December 10th, 1964. At that time, Taiwan was under martial law, so its people did not properly understand human rights.
Moreover, Chairperson Chu Chen emphasized that although Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, it has formulated practical legislation to adopt into its domestic law the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (referred to as “the two Covenants”); along with the CEDAW, CRC, and CRPD. This is a concrete manifestation of Taiwan’s integration with the United Nations human rights standards.
Regarding Taiwan’s progress in terms of human rights, Executive Yuan President Chien-Jen Chen noted in his speech that Taiwan’s junior high school students had recently participated in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, ranking first in the world in the categories of gender, ethnicity, and immigration. The participants also ranked first in terms of their level of awareness and sensitivity to environmental protection. He expressed his hope for everybody to work together to continue making progress for human rights in Taiwan, enabling Taiwan to become a friendlier country to all and tenacious in the face of adversity.
The issuing ceremony was also attended by NHRC commissioner Chiu-Chin Tien, and distinguished guests included Executive Yuan Minister Bing-Cheng Luo, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wen-Jong Chi, Chairman of Chunghwa Post Hong-Mo Wu, President of the Chinese Taipei Philatelic Federation Yu-An Chen, and other representatives of the Postal Workers’ Union.