Hung Shih-fang, Director of the National Human Rights Museum and President of FIHRM-AP shared FIHRM-AP's work regarding contemporary human rights issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

FIHRM (Federation of International Human Rights Museums) Oslo 2022 was inaugurated on the 19th of September. In response to the drastic changes in the world, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, totalitarianism, and extremism, this year’s theme discussed how contemporary museums face political pressure and threats of war and how they reflect on issues such as minority human rights and mass atrocities. Hung Shih-fang, Director of the National Human Rights Museum and President of FIHRM-Asia Pacific (FIHRM-AP), and his team attended FIHRM Oslo 2022. Hung shared that Taiwan has achieved human rights education and international cooperation to show Taiwan’s determination to promote democracy and human rights.

FIHRM is affiliated with the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Since its establishment in 2010, FIHRM has established regional networks, including FIHRM-LA(Latin America) and FIHRM-AP, and collaborated with Demokratinettverket in Norway. FIHRM-AP, headquartered at the National Human Rights Museum of Taiwan in 2019, has the most significant number of international institutional members among all networks. In FIHRM Oslo 2022, four presentations were from FIHRM-AP, three of which were from the National Human Rights Museum. Including “Advocacy for Addressing Contemporary Human Rights Issues - the Case Study of FIHRM-AP,” “Developing Trust and Mutual Understanding through Co-Creating Process – An Example from Green Island Art Festival in Taiwan,” and “Beyond Single Narrative: A Case Study of ‘Shared Journeys’ Exhibition.”

In his welcoming speech, Bard Frydenlund, Director of Eidsvoll 1814, stated that under pressures from stakeholders and political situations, a contemporary museum would face many challenges when responding to the needs of the public. Guillermo Whpei, President of FIHRM, advocated that “every museum can (and should) be a human rights museum” and called on all museums to strive for equality and start global campaigns to support children in poverty, child labor, and people suffering from modern slavery.

On the second day of the conference at the Nobel Peace Center, Hung Shih-fang shared the fruitful results of human rights promotion in Taiwan and the FIHRM-AP’s role as the human rights hub. It connected museums with civil society and supported the advocacy and practices of museums and human rights organizations in the Asia-Pacific region through international advocacy platforms. Hung also talked about FIHRM-AP’s work on transnational migrants and human rights, and human rights and climate change. He invited all FIHRM members to work together to achieve social justice. He called on FIRHM-AP members to focus on human rights issues in the Asia-Pacific region, including gender equality, sweatshops, negative heritages, and traumatic memory. These are all critical issues that the international society should emphasize, stated Hung, and are also what FIHRM-AP will promote, advocate, and practice in the future.

FIHRM Oslo 2022

Venue: Eidsvoll 1814, Nobel Peace Center, and The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies

Event Link: Fihrm Oslo 2022

Date: 19th to 21st Sep. 2022.