Cardinal discusses child soldier problem
Aug 06, 2007
According to the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, international donors must do everything possible to guarantee adequate funding for reintegration and rehabilitation projects
(MISNA, August 06, 2007) “The dramatic situation of child-soldiers cannot be considered resolved simply because hostilities have ceased in a country, where until yesterday these minors were engaged in warfare”, said yesterday from Kampala Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who is on a pastoral visit in Uganda.
The Cardinal urged major involvement of the international community in addressing an emergency that remains “an open issue” in many nations, where negotiated accords fail to guarantee a beneficial social reintegration of former combatants.
“A youth that takes up weapons is against nature, but it is also such when so many young people after unspeakable sufferance in the lines of the rebellion end up on the streets, forced to beg or even into prostitution”, added the Cardinal, stressing that for the former child-soldiers “a mobilisation of consciences is indispensable, to guarantee them a healthy education and consequential assistance to ensure their full integration into the workforce”.
According to the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, international donors must do everything possible to guarantee adequate funding for reintegration and rehabilitation projects.
Intervening at a meeting promoted by the Ugandan Bishops Conference on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine at the Catholic cathedral of Lubaga (pronounced “Rubaga”), which stands on the hills overlooking the Ugandan capital, the Cardinal, in the presence of a significant number of Bishops, priests, religious and laic, reminded that the Compendium is a sort of “manual evangelisation” useful for carrying out the ‘global village’ message of salvation of Christ in the contemporary world.
“It is a text that represents a point of reference for the promotion of a fully responsible citizenship founded on evangelical values”, explained the Cardinal. A
t the conclusion of the meeting, a copy of the Compendium was presented to Uganda’s Vice President Gilbert Bukenya, who in expressing great appreciation for the gift, said: “It is a book that should be read by all politicians, independently from their faith, because it contains really universal truths”.
The Cardinal today is in the northern district of Gulu for a pastoral visit in name of Pope Benedict XVI in the camps where hundreds of thousands of people still live, displaced by a violent conflict that since the late 80’s devastated northern Uganda.
Cardinal discusses child soldier problem