An exhibition shedding light on Taiwan’s human rights development is underway at Taiwan Cultural Center in Tokyo, according to the Ministry of Culture Sept. 16.
Co-organized by the center, New Taipei City-based National Human Rights Museum and Tokyo-headquartered Scholars Network for Education Trips to Taiwan (SNET Taiwan), the two-month event chronicles Taiwan’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy with displays of photos, posters, publications, videos and other related documents regarding civil rights abuses in Taiwan over the latter half of the 20th century, Taiwan and Japan’s joint efforts to foster the democratic way of life as well as the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The center said the event is the first time the NHRM has staged an exhibition overseas since its establishment in 2018. Among the center’s contributions to the exhibition is a section dedicated to introducing a Japan organization that strived to rescue political victims during the White Terror era, which refers to the period of martial law from May 1948 to July 1987 in Taiwan proper and November 1992 in outlying Kinmen and Matsu islands.
During the opening ceremony, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Japan Representative Frank Hsieh said freedom and human rights do not happen organically. Only through democracy movements can political systems be altered and dictatorship removed, he added.
Overseas rescues still constitute a major part of the global campaign to protect human rights, he said, adding that activists must be firm in the face of attempts to divide and weaken democratic forces.
Administered by the MOC, NHRM is the country’s primary facility for collecting and preserving historical documents and materials relating to human rights during the White Terror. (YCH-E)
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