WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 11, 1998 by Teresa Malcolm

Religious group provide most famine relief

Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant groups in South Korea have contributed more than half of all the donations received from nongovernmental groups to aid famine-stricken North Koreans, a Red Cross official said.

"In particular, when relations between North and South Korea became worse, other civic groups would decrease their support, but religious groups faithfully continued their course without a break," Kim Seung-kuen, an official

of the Korea National Red Cross, said in early November.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry recently presented a report to the National Assembly saying that the Catholic church donated as much as $3.4 million to North Koreans from January 1997 to August of this year. During the same period, Protestant churches contributed about $5.4 million, while Buddhist groups gave about $1 million, the ministry said.

Guatemala frees dog, but priest stays jail

A German shepherd considered central to the killing of Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera of Guatemala has been released from detention, but his master, Fr. Mario Orantes, a diocesan priest, will remain in jail, accused of the killing.

The 11-year-old arthritic dog, called Baloo, was freed Nov. 13 by order of the judge overseeing the murder case, but will remain under treatment in the St. Francis of Assisi veterinary clinic in Guatemala City.

"The dog has problems with its back," the dog's vet, Claudio Bovadilla, said Nov 18. "It falls over when it walks. It has a chronic condition and will remain in treatment."

While Baloo's detention was considered no longer necessary by the attorney general's office, his master has been formally accused with having wielded the concrete block that killed Gerardi outside his parish home. The prosecutor has yet to identify a motive for the killing.

Advocates demand `child-friendly justice

Child advocates from 27 nations met in Mandaluyong City, Philippines and urged governments to develop more "child-friendly" justice systems and to comply with the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In their "Manila Declaration: Respecting, Promoting and Protecting Children's Rights," participants in the Nov. 5-8 International Forum for Child Welfare agreed to monitor and promote implementation of the U.N. convention, and to re-examine the role of juvenile justice systems.

The meeting participants noted that many young people who are involved in crime are victims of socioeconomic deprivation, abuse and neglect.

They recommended that governments consider community-based alternatives to detention including individualized treatment for abused or neglected children and perpetrators, The state must also provide educational and skills training programs for detained children, they said.

Some 20 child victims of abuse from Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines who have filed cases against their abusers presented their concerns at the meeting.

Sociologist says church fueling `social tension'

A Polish sociologist has accused the country's Catholic church of "fueling social tensions" by discouraging women from working and entering public life.

Renata Siemienska, a professor at state-run Warsaw University, said conflicts would increase between traditional teachings and economic realities as Polish legislation was brought into line with Western norms.

"It's dangerous to pressure women to stay at home and withdraw from the labor market, without considering the social consequences," she said.

Siemienska said the church's traditional emphasis on the role of women in bringing up children at home was creating a growing conflict over aspirations and needs. She added that Poland's Central Statistics Office had highlighted growing poverty in one-income families.

A spokesman for the Warsaw archdiocese rejected Siemienska's view, saying that women were engaged in various church activities, including reading the gospel at Mass.

Indigenous leaders urge Estrada to withdraw troops

Southern Philippine tribal chieftains appealed to President Joseph Estrada to withdraw military troops, saying their counterinsurgency drives have displaced and terrorized highland dwellers.

"It is high time that [Estrada] be informed that some units of the armed forces and paramilitary groups in full battle gear were being used illegally to demolish helpless and poor indigenous [communities]," the leaders wrote in a Nov. 22 resolution of their Supreme Council of Mindanao Dams ("chieftains").

According to Sammy Gangoso, leader of the B'laan community in central Mindanao, military attacks were usually directed against communities that have been pursuing ancestral land claims. He said there has been a lull in operations in the hinterlands of North and South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces where his tribe lives but added, "We don't know when the next round would be and where."

The council of chieftains of the 18 major ethnic communities and 13 Muslim indigenous communities of Mindanao met Nov. 22 in Davao City to discuss how the military presence in the mountains has affected their lives.