2023 Tainan Human Rights Festival: Diverse Collaborations & Engaging Activities-國立成功大學永續發展SDGs

The "Tainan Human Rights Festival," jointly organized by the National Human Rights Museum and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) since 2019, held its opening event on September 27, 2023, at the NCKU Library. The theme of this year's festival, "Well-being—Health and Medical Human Rights," was organized by the NCKU Museum. Vice director of the National Human Rights Museum, Jia-Hui Zhan, Vice director of the National Taiwan Literature Museum, Shu-Zhen Xiao, Group leader of the Tainan Municipal Library, Bo-Xu Lin, and several distinguished guests from both inside and outside the university attended the opening ceremony. Breaking away from the previous format of conducting activities solely within the university, this year's event expanded through inter-institutional collaborations, aiming to attract more participation from the general public.


Assistant Vice President of NCKU and Museum Director Ping-Sheng Wu expressed gratitude for the support and collaboration from various internal and external units. He highlighted that this year's event combined the theme of the 2023 International Museum Day - "Museums for Sustainability and Well-being" with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on "ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages." The core expression of this event is to explore how museums can promote human health and sustainable development through various means such as exhibitions, research, education, and community engagement. Wu emphasized the importance of pursuing better well-being and promoting social health and medical equity, stating that physical health is paramount for human existence, but it's essential to consider how to enhance overall well-being and promote health equity and medical rights in society.


Vice President of NCKU, Yuh-Neu Chen, emphasized the university's commitment to nurturing a strong foundation in humanities and emphasized the crucial role of healthcare in creating a happy city. She referenced the philosophy of former Dean Kun-Yen Huang of the NCKU College of Medicine, who emphasized the importance of becoming a successful individual before becoming a good doctor, emphasizing the cultivation of cultural refinement before professional expertise. She expressed gratitude for the collaborative efforts of various units in integrating complex academic research, clinical experience, and underlying humanistic concerns into easily understandable content for the general public. NCKU will continue to integrate university social responsibility (USR) with societal needs, expressing concern for society and local culture.


Vice director of the National Taiwan Literature Museum, Shu-Zhen Xiao, expressed delight in collaborating with the NCKU College of Medicine on the "Writing Therapy" project, integrating more local resources to assist those in need. Yan-Shen Shan, Dean of the NCKU College of Medicine, shared his perspective, emphasizing the doctor's responsibility to assist people's health and encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation to help people achieve healthy lives. He highlighted the increasing importance of addressing dementia issues, especially in the face of an aging society, and stressed the need to consider how to empower the elderly population to contribute to the nation's strength and how various aspects such as literature and politics can help them restore their daily lives and achieve physical and mental health.


Following the opening event, Chia-Hsin Chen, head of the Promotion Division of the NCKU Museum, conducted a guided tour of the exhibition titled "Well-being: Wishing for Good Health." This exhibition was jointly curated by the NCKU Museum, the NCKU International Wound Repair and Regeneration Center, the NCKU Hospital Palliative Care Shared Care Center, and the research team of Professor Yu-Min Kuo from the NCKU Institute of Cell Biology and Anatomy.


The 2023 Tainan Human Rights Festival focuses on the core theme of "Well-being—Health and Medical Human Rights," delving into various aspects from individual prevention, treatment, and healing to transitioning into caregiver roles, companionship, aging, and palliative care. It extends further into contemporary societal issues, local Tainan community healthcare, and other domains. The event is designed around four main themes: "Prevention, Treatment, Healing," "Companionship, Aging, Palliative Care," "Local, Medical, Humanitarian," and "Contemporary, Social, Issues." In addition to collaborative exhibitions with various units, the event also includes nighttime exhibitions at the Small West Gate by the "艸非火" team  from the Void Mountain (空山祭), post-screening discussions of the documentary "And Miles to Go Before I Sleep (九槍)" focusing on migrant workers' rights, and lectures on medical human rights in documentary photography or art history. The diverse and exciting event programming will continue until December, inviting the public to actively participate.