Episode Description

Taiwan is poised to end its longstanding policy of requiring deportation of foreigners found to be infected with the HIV virus after an amendment eliminating the requirement was passed by the Legislative Yuan.

On this Taiwan Talk we speak with AIDS rights advocate Ashley Wu of Taipei based non-profit Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association (PRAA), to learn about what was behind the repeal and what suffers can expect now.

EXTRA INFO: PRAA says the amendment is expected to be signed into law later this year and when that happens, those who have been recorded as HIV positive will be able to apply for legal residence in Taiwan even if they are currently staying in the country illegally. To learn more visit the group’s website at praatw.org, or call their counseling line at (02) 2550 – 5963.

Recommended Reading

This article reports briefly on the passage of the amendment by the Legislative Yuan.

This article was written before the amendment passed, but gives a little bit more info about what the policy covering foreigners has been.

There were actually a few other changes made to the law in question (that is the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act), most of which impact not just foreigners but everyone in Taiwan. This article explains a few of those changes.

And here are a few articles from a while back that flesh out the PRAA’s positions on a few other areas. These articles cover some issues faced by those infected with HIV in Taiwan that we didn’t have time for in today’s interview including employment and housing discrimination.

How to listen

Taiwan Talk is broadcast during the 8am and 6pm newscasts on ICRT FM 100 on both Mondays and Tuesdays. Listen over the radio or stream it by clicking on the “live” button at the top of the ICRT homepage.

You can also download episodes of this program online at the ICRT website and on the show’s iTunes page. New episodes are added every Wednesday.

You can learn more about Taiwan Talk at the show page here.

You can also find past episodes on this blog here.

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