| The 63rd United Nations DPI/NGO Annual Conference was held in Melbourne from A ugust 30 to Sept ember 1, 2010. The Bell of Peace comes back to Australia together with the Cultural Goodwill Group of Love and Peace after last visit to Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. The Bell has traveled around the globe with consolidation of good thoughts and good wishes from 152 bell-ringers, including heads of states and world leaders.
On Aug ust 30, 12 representatives, including Dr. Mary Norton, the Chair man of the 63rd UN/DPI/NGO Annual Conference and Beraki Jino, the Ambassador of Solomon, have rung the Bell of Peace. On Aug ust 29 th, the Bell of Peace was rung by 9 representatives including Michael Sidibe, the speaker of the opening of the 63th Annual Conference, the Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Sorosh Roshan, P resident of the International Health Awareness Network, and other round table speakers. A total of 21 bell-ringers have rung the Bell in three ringing. The first ring is for their respective nation, the second ring for the United Nations and the third ring for all humanity. The peaceful sound of the Bell was reverberating across the sky above Melbourne. Every person on site was deeply touched. Bell-ringers have made their wishes and commitments to the world.
Dr. Mary Norton, the Chairman of the 63rd UN/DPI/NGO Annual Conference, prayed for world peace by the a dvancement of g lobal h ealth and the a chievement of MDGs. Mr. Beraki Jino, the Ambassador of Solomon, hoped to spread the wish for world peace by the peaceful bell sound. Dr. Mary Norton, the Conference chair man, also met with the wife of Dr. Hong Tao-Tze. Dr. Hong Tao-Tze is the Honorary Vice-President and Member of Advisory Board of the Association of World Citizens (AWC), the President of the Federation of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL), the Zhang-men-ren of Tai Ji Men. Mrs. Hong exchanged views on “Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs”. Mrs. Hong specially proposed that the march towards global health in 2010 starts from creating sound frameworks to protect human rights.
The bell-ringers and volunteers of Cultural Goodwill Group exchanged and shared views in the Conference on Human Rights for World Citizens (CHRWC). The participants were surprised to learn that Taiwan tax agents would encourage students to file anonymous reporting of tax evasions without doing detailed investigation. The students would get big prize for being the informants and doing the reporting. The purpose of taxation is to promote public welfare and protect human rights rather than making money.
Mr. Duncan Lee, the volunteer of AWC and certified accountant of the United States, mentioned that Taiwan had been said to be the Beacon of Democracy in Asia by Mr. Bush, the former President of the United States, when he congratulated on President Ma Ying-jeou's Inauguration in 2008. However, t he persecution of tax ation human rights still exists. Mr. Chantiong Yap, the member of FOWPAL, from Malaysia, said that there had been many fights in history caused by taxation problems such as American War of Independence from 1775-1783, French Revolution from 1789-1799, the head tax imposed by Ms. Thatcher in 1990, and so on. He pointed out that a regime may be overthrown if it continue s to impose more taxes on people without taking into account the ability to pay. It is clear that the tax system is closely related to the national economy.
All the participants of the ceremony signed the petition for the victims of state violence. They showed their respect to human rights and wishes for a world of peace, equality and human rights protection. It is expected th at Taiwan government can face the problem of tax ation human rights proactively to prevent people from fears and persecution.
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