8/3/2019 THRAC Statement on Aborignal Autonomy Act - English

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Taiwanese Human Rights Association of CanadaKa-n-ti Ti-on Jn-kon Hiap-ho

45 Fontainbleau Drive Toronto Canada M2M 1P1http://thracanada.blogspot.com/p/about.html thracanada@gmail.com

Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada

Calls on ROC Executive Yuan to withdraw draft Indigenous Autonomy Act

December 5, 2011

On December 5 the Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition ()

held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan to protest against the Executive Yuans draft

Indigenous Autonomy Act (). They decried it as false self government

because it offers neither fiscal power nor land rights, and would be subject to the existing

township/district governments.

THRAC supports the position of the Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition, and makes thefollowing statement:

(1) We support the right of Taiwans Indigenous Peoples to Self Government

Indigenous self-government is a basic right of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples, and a hope for

which they have struggled over many years.Indigenous self-government not only implies

managing their own affairs, it also is beneficial to the development of self-identity,

continuationof traditional culture, and possession and protection of natural resources in their

traditional territories.

(2) The law should uphold the spirit of the United Nations Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

In that Declaration it states:Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination,

have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local

affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

The Executive Yuans draft Indigenous Autonomy Act offers an extremely low level of self

governing authority, within which Indigenous people have no power to use and manage the

resources on their land, and so seriously violates the spirit of the United Nations Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

3. The draft Indigenous Autonomy Act should be withdrawn and rewrittenThe current draft essentially strips Indigenous peoples of their right to self government, and

lacks the fundamental elementsof real self-government. As a draft without land, without

fiscal authority, without real power it should be withdrawn and rewritten, so as to give

Indigenous people real autonomy.

Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada

President Michael Stainton and the Executive Committee

Toronto, Canada, December 5, 2011