Our Honorary President, Dr. Cecilia Koo, received The Order of Brilliant Star from President Ma Ying Jeou on March 7, 2013. In the ceremony, he especially praised her decades-long work advancingwomen's rights, caring for the disadvantaged in society and active participation in international promotion of women's issues. The National Council of Taiwan, the Republic of China is indeed honored that our founder has received such important recognition.

In April, I flew to The Hague, Netherlands to attend the ICW Board Meeting and ECICW Meeting and Seminar, which focused on "Women as Powerful Agents of Change for Peace." In November, I again traveled to Bogota, Colombia to attend another ICW Board Meeting and the Regional Council of Americas International Seminar and Regional Meeting. The theme of the seminar was "Women's Leadership in Politics and Economic Empowerment." At the seminar I had the pleasure of giving a brief talk on Human Rights in Taiwan and moderating the panel on Human Rights and Other Challenges.

During the year, NCW organized two discussion sessions for CEDAW alternative reports on the subjects of violence against women, AIDS, teenage pregnancy and immigrant labor. In addition, NCW members participated in several CEDAW seminars and conferences sponsored by various government and non-government agencies throughout the year. We also took part in monthly meetings with ten other NGOs and experts to monitor the implementation of CEDAW and report inadequacies and recommendations to the relevant government agencies for use in the establishment of CEDAW policies.

"Care for Women is Caring for the World" is the focus of ICW programs for 2012-2015. NCW of Taiwan specially organized afree seminar on dementia that is open to the public on 17 November 2013. The deputy director of the Bureau of Health of Taiwan, R.O.C, Ms. Li-Hwei You, introduced the government's policy and care programs for citizens with dementia. Three experts introduced the medical aspects of dementia, caring for the elderly patients, available care facilities as well as the Swedish model of care. I would especially like to thank our board members and co-sponsors for their generous support and participation.

The mission of NCW Taiwan, R.O.C. is to unite women for the purposes of improving the status of women and well-being of society, developing women's leadership and achieving gender equality. We must continue striving to further advance these goals not only for our women but for all women in the world.

With best regards,
Linda Liu