ATJ calls for your support to assureTaiwanese journalists' working right at WHA
Dear Colleague,
As president of the Association of Taiwan Journalists, I must express my indignation here and beseech your assistance in asking UN to rectify an outrageous infringement upon freedom of the press. To our confusion and dismay, the United Nations Office in Geneva has refused to recognize journalists from Taiwan, thereby barring them from the 58th World Health Assembly.
Freedom of the press is a universal value that the UN has vowed to uphold. Taiwan, in its devotion to promote democracy and world peace, should not be ostracized from the global community due to political reasons. Taiwanese journalists embrace, expect, and treasure freedom of the press. It is disheartening and reprehensible when an international organization that claims to hold human rights as a core principle disregards the fundamental rights of a civil society.
It is our firm belief that the UN is a revered international organization that serves to safeguard peace, freedom, and justice throughout the world. The preamble of the UN charter states that the UN aims “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.” The UN must resolve our predicament in a timely fashion, as its credibility and image are at stake.
Health issues transcend politics. Surely some mechanism can be found to allow Taiwanese journalists to once again cover this event. The importance of health issues, such as SARS, is far too important to allow the new application process to deny journalists from Taiwan entry to the 58th World Health Assembly.
On May 29, 2004, members of the International Federation of Journalists in Athens voiced their unanimous support for the right of Taiwan journalists to cover the event. On that occasion, at a plenary session the IFJ passed a motion raised by the Association of Taiwan Journalists to protest the United Nation’s refusal to allow journalists from Taiwan to cover the 57th World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 17-22.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could support and help resolve this matter.
