Participating NGOs (in alphabetical order)

Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples' Policies

Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples' Policies is a nonprofit and non-governmental organization that looks for cooperation between intellectuals, scholars, social workers from political, social, economic, legal, cultural and educational segments who are concerned about the future of Taiwan's indigenous peoples, aiming to understand the special problems faced by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, safeguard their special interests, and preserve their special cultures and languages, in order to enhance the indigenous self-esteem, self-confidence and self-identity, to promote the autonomy of indigenous peoples, and to develop feasible programs and organizational training methods in order to achieve the ideal of ethnic justice.

Covenants Watch

As an umbrella organization of human rights groups established on December 10, 2009, the Covenants Watch (CW) is committed to defending and promoting the dignity and human rights of every person on an equal ground. By monitoring the government of Taiwan in fulfilling its obligations under the international human rights instruments of the United Nations, it aims to build a bridge between international human rights norms and the domestic laws and government policies in the island state.

Covenants Watch is also a collaborative platform for NGOs to work together with joint alternative reports on the implementation of UN core human rights conventions that have legal binding effect on the Taiwanese government. Covenants Watch co-organized 67 and 80 NGOs in 2013 and 2017 respectively for alternative reporting on the ICESCR and ICCPR.

Disabled Children's Rights Advocacy Alliance in Taiwan （DCRAAT）

Disabled Children's Rights Advocacy Alliance in Taiwan（DCRAAT）is composed of children with disabilities and their parents, aiming to defend the basic human rights of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities and their families are confronted by barriers including lack of resources, inadequate legislation and policies, and inaccessible environments. They are absent from the game fields in the park because of the disability unfriendliness of the facilities. They disappear from the playgrounds on campuses because of the poor quality of inclusive education. They are invisible to us because of the denial of transportation and basic public utilities. Their needs have long been disregarded. They lose the equal enjoyment of all rights and support all children deserve, and also across the entire course of lives. DCRAAT is dedicated to actively monitoring the government, participating in relevant policy-making to ensure the children with disability have equal access with other children to fully participate in school, recreation activities and all other aspects of life.

Hand Angel

Hand Angel is a Taiwan-based organization advocating the practice of sex rights. We see the importance of sex to individual people, and how the desires of people with severe physical disabilities are confined by the limited mobility and traditional values in Taiwan. Therefore, we formed the first volunteer organization Hand Angel in Taiwan, providing sex service for people with disability in early 2013. We look forward to setting free the desires of people with physical disabilities.

Our goal is to change the norm in Taiwan’s charity which satisfies the general public, yet sacrifices those with disabilities. Our belief is to treat everyone with equality through our services, deliberately revealing the hidden needs of people with physical disabilities to the government and the society. We insist that "the sex rights of the people with disabilities are their human rights!" Hand Angel seeks to provide a service that specializes in masturbation for people with physical disabilities, aiming to bring sexual gratification to the physical disabled so that they can gain a greater motivation to embrace their lives with disabilities. Hand Angel does not accept any donations, in order to show that even if prostitution is legalized in Taiwan one day, there are still people with severe disabilities who have very limited mobility to work or even walk out of the door to conduct sexual transactions.Hand Angel keeps offering services in the hope of advocating sex rights of the physical disabled to the general public in Taiwan, and incorporating the sex right perspectives to the relevant disability charity organizations’ services. Through speeches, interviews from the media, publication and cooperation with other NGOs, etc., we look forward to changing the lives of many with disabilities step by step.

Judicial Reform Foundation

The Judicial Reform Foundation is committed to advancing legal reform by uniting the power of the people in order to establish a fair, just, and trustworthy judiciary for the people.

In realizing its mission, the Judicial Reform Foundation embraces the following core values:

• Fairness and Justice.
• Diversity and Accessibility.
• Professionalism. Innovation. Criticism.

The vision of the Judicial Reform Foundation is to ensure a society in which all people benefit from a fair, just and trustworthy judiciary.

The principal objectives of the Judicial Reform foundation are:

• To harness the power of civil society to advance judicial reform
• To improve the justice, transparency, and democracy of the judicial system
• To end unfair and negligent treatment of the people by the judiciary

Legal Aid Foundation (LAF)

LAF provides the general public with legal aid, with the purpose of defending people's basic litigation rights. Legal aid recipients are those who lack financial means and are unable to receive proper legal protection or exercise their rights; or those who may not lack financial means but should be given aid according to the law, such as those involved in compulsory defense cases (where the minimum punishment of the crime is not less than three years’ imprisonment; or where the individual’s ability to express in court is impeded by intellectual disability). The services of LAF include legal consultation, mediation and settlement, legal documents drafting and representation in court proceedings.

The Legal Aid Act was passed on December 23, 2003 and was promulgated by the President on January 7, 2004. The Foundation commenced operations on July 1, 2004. Since then, 21 Branch Offices have opened in municipal cities and counties to serve labor, women, children, aboriginal people and migrants. Under Article 6 of the Legal Aid Act, the endowment of the Foundation is NT$10,000,000,000. The Foundation encourages the public to make donations, and also receives annual contribution budgeted by the Judicial Yuan.

LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group

LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group is an advocacy group that participates in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and focuses on domestic and international indigenous and national events and issues. The core of the organization is its international participation and local connections.

LIMA is a common term in Austronesian languages, meaning "5" or "hand". LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group was established in 2013, composed by a group of like-minded indigenous youth from various backgrounds, aiming to equip the local indigenous people with relevant capacity and knowledge to enhance their international participation. The members come from different indigenous peoples and nations in Taiwan, and with various educational and professional backgrounds.

Besides participating in the UNPFII sessions, LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group has been conducting series of sharing sessions of international participation experiences, workshops and trainings. It also participated in convention review meetings in Taiwan, like CEDAW review meetings as well as many works related to the rights of indigenous peoples. LIMA has also set up the website called International Platform for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples, which aims to make international human rights related information more accessible.

New Taipei City Association for Mental Health Survivors (Family Group of People with Mental Illness)

New Taipei City Association for Mental Health Survivors is a nonprofit, self-help organization of families and consumers of people with mental illnesses founded on July, 3rd, 1994 in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Our missions:

• Facilitating people with mental illness to integrate into the community
• Enhancing people with mental illness to face and fight against prejudice and stigma

Our beliefs:

• It is courageous for families to shoulder up the responsibility to cope with the difficulties in relation to mental illness, and therefore the society at large should be accepting and supportive.
• Believing each person with mental illness has potentials and opportunities to recover.
• Being a person with mental illness, s/he, like you and me, has the right to live freely in the community.

Our vision:

• Pioneering a variety of services to journey with people with mental illness for a different life.

New Vitality Independent Living Association Taipei

New Vitality Independent Living Association is an organization run by and for people with different types of physical and mental disabilities. Founded in 2007, the organization is devoted to helping people with disabilities to live in the community with dignity by offering them personal assistance to engage in their life activities, aiming to enable people with disabilities to realize their full potential, live independently, and reduce the obstacles and discrimination in their lives.

The biggest difference sets the organization apart from others is the majority of the decision makers (including the board) are with physical or mental disabilities and are cross-disability.

Taiwan Access for All Association

Taiwan Access for All Association is a cross-disability organization in Taipei, Taiwan. It was originally a web-based network (Accessible Life Network), which provided disability-related news and information by a small group of volunteers with and without disabilities in 2002. As the Network grew, there was a growing demand for accessible tourism and assistive technology information; the network also provided a community platform for people with disabilities to discuss and exchange their experiences. In 2004, Taiwan Access for All Association was officially founded by disabled activists and their allies to support and advocate for disabled people’s voices in Taiwan. At present our main services includes mobility assistive devices for rent, accessible travel, and education and advocacy works for the people with disabilities.

Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP)

The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) was founded in 2003 by local NGOs and academics, such as the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, and the Judicial Reform Foundation. The Alliance was formed to stress and promote the absolute value of life and human dignity as core to the protection and promotion of human rights.

Profoundly understanding that the society has yet to be exposed to the debate concerning death penalty abolition, and that the general public seems to support capital punishment as a form of revenge against perpetrators of major crimes, the Alliance aims to create an open discussion forum for society on various abolition issues. Furthermore, it advocates shaping a better penal system that both respects the value of life while truly compensating the victims so as to really uphold justice and safeguard human rights for all.

Taiwan Association for Disability Rights（TADR）

Taiwan Association for Disability Rights (TADR) is composed majority of disabled members responsible for policy decision in order to fulfill Article 33 of CRPD for a DPO to monitor the government. TADR emphasized on promoting equal rights that ought to be possessed by people with disabilities, to maintain their human rights, to facilitate international exchanges and cooperation with pioneers and leaders in the aspect of disability, to bring in effective implementation projects, to persuade legislative committees and make recommendations to government, to provide training opportunities for disabled policy advocates to visit and learn from other developed countries’ experience and to enhance awareness of human rights of disabled people from international perspectives.

In order to eliminate discriminations towards disabled people, we emphasized particularly on promoting community education and in together added in elements of drama musicals and hip-hop rapping performance in order to reinforce general public’s understanding towards disabled people. Moreover, we provided legal consultations, speed up technical development of assistive devices and cultivated cultural innovation as we wished to start from the basic and one’s core beliefs. We aimed to facilitate disabled people to participate in the community, cultural activities and public policies so as to achieve community integration and enjoyed human rights and freedom as everyone does in the community.

Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR)

Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) is an independent non-governmental organization and was founded on 10th December 1984 (International Human Rights Day). It is a member-based NGO and run by full time activists and volunteers.

The Taiwan Association for Human Rights is committed to:

• Remaining independent from the government, all political parties,
• corporations, and other interest groups;
• Promoting the spirit of human rights and enhancing human rights standards and protections;
• Fighting for all people without regard for class, race, gender, religion, or nationality; and
• Cooperating with NGOs worldwide to improve domestic and global human rights.

Taiwan Epilepsy Care Alignment

Taiwan Epilepsy Care Alignment was established in 2013. 99% of the members are epilepsy patients and their families. The mission of the alignment is to protect the rights of epilepsy patients in aspects like education, care providence, employment and self-development. The work of the alignment includes: (a) Raising public awareness: to educate correct epilepsy health knowledge and advocate care and acceptance for patients with epilepsy; (b) Empower epilepsy patients: organize various activities to develop patient's’ confidence and potentials, and help them to seek appropriate training courses and employment opportunities (c) Advocate for improved rights and regulations: urge the government to amend the stringent standards of unreasonable epilepsy identification and insurance requirements. Also, call for the establishment of institutions such as nursing homes, training centers and asylum factories. The Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities was incorporated into the protection of tenacious epilepsy in 2000, which is the result of the collective efforts of the members.

Taiwan Gender Queer Rights Advocacy Alliance

Taiwan Gender Queer Rights Advocacy Alliance is formed by a group of people with multiple identities, i.e., people who are homosexual, bisexual, transgender, transgender, queer and questioning, etc. and at the same time with social vulnerabilities like physical or mental disabilities, epilepsy, or are infected with rare diseases, HIV, etc.

These individuals who carry multiple social stigma are often excluded by the society and difficult to seek support groups. The members of Taiwan Gender Queer Rights Advocacy Alliance have all experienced such hardship and decided to speak out for people of their kinds. Seeking to be recognized and understood, the alliance aims to fulfill the equality of all human beings, realizing zero discrimination in all living spaces and to improve the rights and interests of people with different multiple identities.

Taiwan International Medical Alliance (TIMA)

Founded in Jan 2001, the Taiwan International Medical Alliance (TIMA) is dedicated to promoting the right to health and alleviating the health inequalities among different social strata and classes, both domestically and regionally. TIMA has been working with Cambodian partners on the development and enforcement of health-related policies, including tobacco control. As a member organization of the Covenants Watch, TIMA takes up the responsibility of developing human rights policies and quantitative human rights methods, such as human rights indicators and impact assessment.

Taiwan Task Force for Prison Reform

Taiwan Task Force for Prison Reform is composed of members from different backgrounds, dedicating to promoting effective corrections, researching policies, and engaging people for innovation in prison reform. For inmate's better future, and for our better community.