Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Taiwan's devotion and success in promoting women's rights is obvious, and this is why Taiwan should be accepted as a party to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) , a women's group said Monday.
Taiwan ranks in the top 30 among 177 countries in two of the most important women's rights indexes -- 24th in the Gender Development Index (GDI) and 19th in the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) , said Mary Chen, chairwoman of National Alliance of Taiwan Women's Associations (NATWA).
"The success and hard work has been ignored as Taiwan is not yet a member state of CEDAW, which has been signed by 183 countries, because of political factors," Chen said.
Taiwan's government has made its move. Premier Su Tseng-tsang approved a proposal for Taiwan to seek to join the CEDAW in July, and the proposal will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan in the next session for ratification, Interior Minister Lee Yi-yang has said.
According to a NATWA release, the CEDAW is one of three U.N. conventions that accept non-U.N. members, which means it's possible for Taiwan to become a party of the convention barring political interference by China.
Taiwan's ratification of the convention, in the meantime, shows that the government has the ability and determination to fulfill its duties in the international community -- even if it is not a U.N. member yet, Lee said.
The CEDAW, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. The convention defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.
To promote understanding of the convention, NATWA is conducting a two-day international conference from Aug. 28-29. Denise Scotto, vice chairwoman of the U.N.'s NGOCSW (Committee of the Status on Women) , and Nancy Wallace, main representative of World Federation for Mental Health at the U.N. headquarters, have been invited as speakers.