Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod delivers remarks at the “Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Rights: Reconciliation and Coexistence” conference Dec. 9 in New Taipei City. (Courtesy of CIP)
 

An international conference on advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples was held Dec. 9 in New Taipei City by the Council of Indigenous Peoples as part of the organization’s 27th anniversary celebrations.

Titled “Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Rights: Reconciliation and Coexistence,” the one-day event involved experts, officials and academics from Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand and the U.S.

Those in attendance included Tsai Ming-cheng, former justice on Taiwan’s Constitutional Court; Elisa Loncon, former president of Chile’s Constitutional Convention; and Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, honorary witness for Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

According to the CIP, during the event’s three panel sessions, participants discussed Indigenous peoples’ constitutional rights and pathways to empowerment, as well as their respective governments’ policies to promote reconciliation and coexistence, among other key issues.

In his opening remarks, CIP Minister Icyang Parod said protecting the rights of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples has been a top policy priority for the government, citing the 1997 addition of a constitutional article ensuring the rights of the country’s native inhabitants.

Progress since includes Taiwan’s participation in various related meetings organized by the U.N. and adoption of the draft U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Taiwan also passed its milestone Indigenous Peoples Basic Law in 2005, two years earlier than the U.N. declaration, the minister added.

The minister said the CIP will keep working with its counterparts in partner nations to jointly ensure the rights of Indigenous peoples around the world. (SFC-E)