NHRM Director Chen Chun-hung (left) and TWRF Chairperson Huang Shu-ling display the memorandum on highlighting human rights issues Oct. 30 in Taipei City. (Courtesy of TWRF)

The National Human Rights Museum and Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 30 to raise awareness in Taiwan about gender issues.
 
Under the agreement, the Ministry of Culture-administered NHRM and the foundation’s Ama Museum plan to collaborate on a range of projects such as conducting research, holding exhibitions and running trainings for volunteers.
 
According to NHRM Director Chen Chun-hung, the move supports the institution’s mission to forge stronger links with local groups and coordinate their resources to advance rights awareness in Taiwan.
 
The cooperation with the Ama Museum, an organization dedicated to the plight of women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II, shows the government takes the issue of comfort women very seriously, the NHRM said.
 
Foundation Chairperson Huang Shu-ling said the memorandum signaled a great opportunity for the two sides to collaborate on exhibitions and research on issues like gender rights and sexual violence.
 
Officially launched in May, the NHRM, comprises Green Island White Terror Memorial Park in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County and Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei. The museum is the nation’s primary facility for collecting historical documents and materials relating to human rights violations, as well as advancing transitional justice and human rights education in Taiwan.
 
The foundation, which has been campaigning for comfort women since 1992, opened the Ama Museum in 2016. It works on a range of issues spanning domestic violence, human trafficking and protections for new immigrants. (CPY-E)