Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

2008 International Seminar on the Human Rights Education of the Youth

Protecting the Youth Human Rights – Yes, You Can

Recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai India and the Suvarnabhumi Airport siege in Thailand have made internal headlines. December 10th is the Human Rights Day. The year 2008 also marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. The youth also stand out bravely to appeal for the public awareness for human rights. A group of young people, who concern about future development of the society and the world, will hold the "2008 International Seminar on the Human Rights Education of the Youth" on December 7, 2008, at the 10th Floor International Conference Room of the Taipei Public Library, right before the Human Rights Day. Sponsors of the event include UN NGO Association of World Citizens (AWC) and AWC Taiwan. Co-sponsors include UN NGO Observatoire International pour la Non-Violence , Tunisia Mother Association, Taipei Public Library, Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, and Federation of World Peace and Love. Representatives from 30 countries,including the United States, Hungary, Russia, Gambia present and provide articles for sharing.Also invited are law expert, former chancellor of the Central Police University, Dr. Shieh, Ruei-Jhih, Director of the Graduate Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Shih Chien University, Dr. Cai Jheng-An, Ambassadors of the Republic of Paraguay in Taiwan, Ramon Antero Diaz Pereira,Minister Counselor of the Embassy of Dominica Republic in Taiwan,Grace Balbuena Zeller, and foreign students from many Universities.

The globally prevalent young crimes, serious campus violence, the negative effects of internet violence and pornography to young children, bad relationships between parents and children, bad relationship between teachers and students, the increasing rate of suicide are the problems that concern those young people who host this seminar. These young people are members and volunteers from the UN NGO Association of World Citizens (AWC) and AWC Taiwan. Some of them, beginning from their elementary school years, have already started to participate in activities such as culture exchange for public welfares, promoting world citizen human rights education in campus, and promoting global endorsement of Declaration for Human Rights of World Citizen and Peace. By participating in these activities, these young people have changed themselves as well as those who around them. So, in the seminar, they wish to share their experience of promoting human rights. Also they invite people from various professions to deliver keynote speeches to encourage more young people to cherish and respect their lives, and to preserve human rights in their daily lives. The seminar will be focusing on three subjects – "Human Rights and World Prospect", "Human Rights in Life", and "Human Rights and the Law". The conclusion of the seminar will be provided as a reference for international human rights organizations as they establish human rights index of the year 2008.

In response to the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and the December 10th Human Rights Day, Zhang-men-ren of Tai Ji Men, Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, also Honorary Vice-President and member of Advisory Board of Association of World Citizens, presented a speech – "The Proclamation of Safeguarding Human Rights to Overcome the Chaotic Tide of the Century", as advises, to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Heads of states around the world, Ambassadors to the United Nations, and chairmen and leaders of UN NGOs. The speech stated: In the 21st century, topics and issues relating to human rights have consistently manifested, from the rights that we were born with, to the basic human rights, such as the rights of children, women, youth, seniors, the handicapped, animals, as well as the rights of freedom of speech, religion, thought, finance, justice, politics, education, a healthy environment, intellectual property rights and taxation...etc. An ever increasing amount of attention is paid to human rights, including the rights of survival, and property. These rights should not be invaded or deprived. Recently, people in parts of Asia have resorted to "hunger strikes" in order to declare their determination to protect human rights, which a reemergence of a technique used to protest of 30 to 40 years ago.


The year of 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In response to the Human Rights Day on December 10th, I am here to present an essay "Proclamation of Safeguarding Human Rights to Overcome the Chaotic Tide of the Century" as guidance to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, world leaders, the UN ambassadors, and leading figures of NGOs associated with the UN, and prominent representatives from all circles.

Where there are human beings, there are human rights; there are certain rights which all people are born with. History has witnessed the progress of civilization. For example, religion is something beyond the knowledge of science which not every person can truly understand. The founding father of democratic China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sun, once said that "People need religion in order to have belief, which creates power." Belief is freedom and power. Religion is also a freedom. Therefore, religious persecution, neglect or discrimination are human rights violations and are intolerable in a democratic country. In western countries, diverse religions co-exist harmoniously. The religious beliefs can be freely chosen so as communities develop, religious space is specially designed in any community when it is established for the benefit of religious circles in order to purify people’s hearts, promote goodwill, stabilize society, and to benefit the world. This is a form of respect to people. It is also a human right; the right of religious belief inspires the acceleration and improvement of human rights in civilized countries.

Because of the current international situation and the unusual social signs of each country, global and human consciousness is now aware of the crisis of existence. The issue of global warming faced in the 21st century is now widely deliberated in the international community. Today, energy sources are getting scarce. The globe is facing a worldwide financial meltdown. In reaction to man’s actions, Mother Nature has brought about many natural disasters including melting icebergs, more frequent storms and earthquakes, flooding, wild fires, and dwindling oil reserves. The acts of God have led to volatile prices in oil and food items, a meltdown of the world economy, ceaseless war, social disorders, and increasing hunger. The resources are not evenly distributed; with too few people are having excess and too many people are having too little to survive. All of these issues have become the realities of our world, which has caused ceaseless disputes and fear in every corner of the world.

People living in the chaotic world need to search for order and value in life; mutual boundaries and respect are necessary in order to maintain basic social order. People are busy at work, and the lifestyles are becoming rushed and always in a hurry. When encountering problems and disputes, even those who are highly educated often are still unable to make appropriate decisions and share their viewpoints with wisdom. Only those people who have suffered from human rights persecution can truly identify the human rights issues which need to be escalated and improved. When a country is facing the rising consciousness of human rights, clues can be found in its social situations, including the practice of government officials abusing their power, people becoming greedy, the state of human rights returning to a barbarous age. The loss of social order and the disguise of civilized persons all urge the essential to protect human rights.

We are all born with human rights. As a result, the human rights become the subject of concern for people in different countries and areas fighting for their rights. People around the globe are awakening to these concerns. On September 22nd, 1862, American President, Abraham Lincoln issued the "Emancipation Proclamation." Today, in 2008, the president-elect Barack Obama has become the first African American president in U.S. history. This shows the progression of the generations. People’s values are not fixed forever; they are inspired through the development of democracy and the evolution of civilization. Therefore, through people’s realization and true comprehension, human rights are able to bring power. The process of pursuing human rights is a perpetual defensive war throughout history. Why does this happen? It is because of ignorance. Some people enjoy easy and comfortable lives with excessive resources available to them; they often consider human rights to be the privileges reserved for some people, instead of believing that human rights belong to everyone. Each year, the United Nations needs to intervene in wars caused by the fight for water, oil and food. All of these happen because human beings toy with the basic human rights that are given to us by God. People are not god. There is no authority given to a human being that grants them the right to deprive any other person of their human rights or life.

Over the past centuries, under the influence of traditional cultural beliefs and blind obligation caused by ignorance, it has been very common to have unfair treatment between men and women. Woman rights activists continuously stand up to protect their own rights and interests. Moreover, human rights evolution has resulted in the abolishment of the death penalty in most civilized countries, the death penalty originates in the idea of revenge, which uses the national public authority to override the criminal’s right to life right and to eliminate him/her permanently from society. Its brutal procedure does not conform to the symbolic meaning of the penalty, or to the idea of enlightenment. Therefore, abolishing the death penalty has become a growing trend in the world with many civilized countries either having already abolished the death penalty, or will constrain it under certain conditions. Civilization comes from the evolution of human beings. Through realization, heart is able to become pure to look at things more clearly. From naturally born human rights to people’s abuses of power, because of the deterioration of human hearts, the right behaviors become unidentifiable. The pattern of persecution of human rights in the 21st century has emerged unceasingly which has caused a rise in public consciousness. A person without heart is worse then an animal. In fact, looking back along the path of modern history, the laws, established at a certain time, is not the problem. What really creates the problem is the human being. As long as human beings follow the rules of nature, there won’t be any occurrence of unbalanced behaviors in the world.

In Taiwan, the public have long questioned the prosecutors’ illegal acts on "the abuse of power in the custody taking process," "the detention of suspects for the purpose of forcing a confession," "prejudgment before the trail," "violations of confidentiality by disclosing information to the public during the investigation," "bribery," "coercion," "intimidation"... and so on. These have created a storm of public distrust of the justice system and of law enforcement especially during the sensitive period of power exchange between the political parties. As a member of the forth Control Yuan of the Republic of China, Mr. Yeh Yao-Peng pointed out that the tools of law enforcement should be established on the foundation of prevention, not on the foundation of insult. The theory of modern law can no longer apply the ideology of revenge. He also believes that prosecutors, who bring charges with very little evidence and have very low percentages of guilty verdicts should no longer stay in the job. These opinions resonate with the voices of democracy. In fact the legal regulations in Taiwan have a clear definition regarding "the presumption of innocence" before any verdict is reached. It is the people’s right to be treated with equality before the Law without connivance or bias. Judicial officials should show their respect to the Law in a manner of fairness, justness, righteousness and dignity by following procedures with a conscientious attitude to investigate and judge.

In the review of the 2008 Human Rights Index of Taiwan, continued decline shows that the Taiwanese government has left the people to live a hard life with by failing on human rights protection, the worsening of public safety, and the dangers of the living environment. Whether it is natural disaster, man-made catastrophe, robbery, murder, arson, drug abuse, drug smuggling, suicide, crime, public officials breaking the laws, or officials shielding one another, all of this anger and suffering remains unresolved. There is no outlet for the people to appeal to or to share their complaints and suffering.

The situation of a declining economy, the dipping of the stock market, the rising rate of unemployment, the sudden increase of homeless, the degradation of human rights, democracy, liberty, and justice, the rising number of criminals, the jail system reaching its full capacity, the poor quality of the environment, human rights not guarded by the constitution, these have all become the nightmares of the Taiwanese people. The health of the people’s mind and spirit are in great danger now.Each person in the society should stand up to save the country, the democracy, and even himself/herself. Let’s appeal to everyone to reform the malpractices. In a democratic country, people’s voices should be heard. Nation is only a pronoun. Instead, it is constituted by the people. People should strive together toward a future of prosperity, stability and development for themselves, their society and their country. The true purpose of being born as a human is to bring themselves and the people a country of prosperity, harmony and peace, as well as to benefit themselves by helping the world.

In Taiwan, some taxation personnel’ abuse their power through excessive taxation to keep the people living in the fear. Public resentment has risen everywhere that not only causes social unrest, but also wastes people’s hard earned money. Although paid by the people, those few personnel commit acts of oppressing people, deceiving people, and cheating the country. As a result, people are suffering, and the hearts become unstable. The hatred of the heart is unable to be resolved because either the common people can not speak of their miseries or have justice be served. The former President of Taiwan, Mr. Li Deng- Hui, once mentioned that his inability to truly reform the justice system during the term of his presidency was his biggest regret. At his retirement ceremony in 2007, the former President of the Judicial Yuan, Mr. Weng Yue-Sheng, also sincerely stated that "administrative authority trampling on justice and hurting its prestige are his biggest sorrow and pain."

Currently, legal cases of taxation in Taiwan have reach up to 60 percent of all administrative lawsuits in the Supreme Court according to the judicial statistics of Report 12 as of September, 2008. In 2001, out of all 38,313 administrative lawsuits, there were 32,336 cases directly overruled in the beginning of the process. Moreover, only 1.3 percent of people’s cases that have reached the court won during the first trial. From January until September, 2008, the people’s chance of winning the lawsuit is only 6.2 percent. The judicial authority is unable to keep in balance with the administrative authority; therefore, the people are either forced to accept the illegal penalty from the Bureau of Tax, or spend endless time and energy fighting an unfair lawsuit which statistically has a 90 percent chance of losing the case. In the long run, this has wasted an innumerable amount of national, judicial, administration and social resources, not mentioning the cost on society. These have resulted in the waste of public money, endangering the country and hurting the people, which are the people’s misfortune and a sorrow for the nation.

In 2007, I was invited by Mr. Gandhi to India to attend the 8th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World, where 263 Chief Justices and esteemed members of various NGO organizations from 91 countries came together to promote International Law to protect human rights around the globe. Chief Justices are the elites of the world who emphasize and recognize the importance of human rights. Human rights are a universal value, and through seminars and workshops we expect to inspire actions to move forward, and urge the protection of children’s rights to equality, dignity and freedom. Through understanding, every democratic country supports fair laws, fair trials and fair human rights; Taiwan needs to move forward to become a real democratic country. The Government’s oppression of the people is an intolerable behavior. While none of us are in favor of a particular political party, we find it necessary to speak up on behalf of the country, the law, democracy, freedom, and human rights.

The safety of the society is the foundation to build up a strong and prosperous country. The law of nature is followed by the recognition that all living creatures are one is a universal standard. The way of living and the reason for the survival are revealed through the Tai Ji Wisdom of Ying and Yang. A just outline of the law in order to rectify and discipline abuses of power is the most important requirement to rule a country which has been proven by history throughout the world. All these principles are shared by the heaven and earth, and should be followed by the people. I sincerely hope that the light of justice and hope will illuminate the world forever, and a realm of love and peace can be achieved. In this way Taiwan can see real justice and hope. Let us proclaim our intention to safeguard human rights in order to overcome the chaotic tide of the century. Let the dark past fade away from the mind of human beings, and may love and peace return to the origin of human heart.

The president of UN NGO Association of World Citizens (AWC), Douglas Mattern said:We need to recall that has been exactly sixty years since United Nations adopted the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s truly one of the great documents in the history with noble principles on how to conduct oneself in a society and how a society should conduct themselves to bring about Justice. Now, unfortunately during all these years, it has not been fully implanted in the world and some areas not implement at all where all types of prejustice still exist politically, culturally, ethically and many other ways. So the Universal Declaration on Human Rights is extremely important for us to promote thru education and thru all means such the type of conference that you are having here today.

In the seminar, young people will share a flash cinema – "Human Rights and World Prospect" – produced by themselves. In addition, the member of AWC Taiwan, Susan, a 25-year-old doctoral student of the Graduate Institute of Biochemistry of the National Taiwan University, who attended the 5th UN Youth Assembly, said: "I learn the wisdom of a peaceful mind. We can listen to the voice deep inside our own hearts only if we can have a mind of peace, the voice of heart speaks love. Without love, we will not be able to truly solve the problems of human rights and peace, and thus we cannot make this world a better place." Susan will be sharing her experience of how to bring the energy of love to the whole world. Judy Lee, a junior student from the department of Architect of the South California University, who participated in the 61st UN DPI/NGO Assembly in Paris, will also share how she practices human rights in her daily life. A representative from the law profession, Ann Chen, a sophomore student of the Law School of the National Taiwan University, will present an article – "If I were a law officer", in which she expresses her earnest expectation toward human rights in law enforcement: "After studying law, I find that the law has already explicitly defined rules for the protection of basic human rights, however how the law enforcement officers practice law is the key to truly protected human rights." Tony Hsieh, a senior student from the Tainan Kang-Min high school, also Tai Ji Men dizi, said: "I am eighteen years old. The future world will be in the hands of my generation. I feel that I have the obligation and responsibility to pass down and to preserve what our successors have achieved, and to bravely pursue a society of human rights and laws where people can fulfill their dreams." The seminar will have a session open for foreign students to share their experience of practicing human rights through mutually respecting one another from different nations and cultures.

The seminar will be concluded by a group of Energy Boys and Energy Girls when will bring about dancing and raps that promise to energize every participant of the seminar. Finally, the host will invite representatives to the stage, together they will declare the "Rules of human rights for the youth in 21st century":1. I will appreciate life and safeguard the right of living for all.2. I will keep my smile, and communicate with others with calm attitude.3. I will treat people, events, and things around me with gratitude.4. I will treat everyone equally, and learn to respect people of different genders, races, countries, cultures, beliefs and religions.5. I will help the youngling, the disabled, and the seniors to make them feel warm and hopeful. 6.I will safeguard the earth, treasure food, cherish resources, and exercise my own energy to help the world to become a better place.At the same time, a consensus can be reached and people can make a promise and goal of their own, so that human rights can be rooted in peoples’ hearts and be implemented in every corner of the world.