Protection of minors: Bishop
Gebremedhin speaks about Ethiopian situation
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| The Meeting on the "Protection of Minors in the Church". |
In an interview during the Vatican meeting on the
“Protection of Minors in the Church”, Ethiopian Bishop Markos Gebremedhin spoke
about the vulnerability of children in the cultural context of his country.
By Robin Gomes
Bishop Markos Gebremedhin, the Apostolic Vicar of
Jimma-Bonga is representing the inter-ritual bishops’ conference of Ethiopia at
the February 21-24 meeting in the Vatican on the “Protection of Minors in the
Church”.
He spoke to Seán Patrick Lovett about the issue of the abuse
of minors in the cultural context of Ethiopia.
Bishop Gebremedhin said that Ethiopia as a nation is
committed to protecting children and has signed the United Nations Convention
on the Protection of Minors. However, the cultural priorities with
regard to protecting children in his country are several, such as sexual abuse,
child trafficking, early marriage and others.
The Church in Ethiopia does not deny there is no sexual
abuse of minors within society, such as by immediate family members or
neighbours on neglected children or children with disabilities such as those
with Down syndrome or autism. Nobody speaks about it but children could
be exposed to sexual abuse.
Within the Ethiopian Church so far, they have not yet had
any report of sexual abuse of children by the clergy. But the fact that
the phenomenon exists elsewhere should be an alarm for the Ethiopian Church to
prevent and prepare well for any kind of eventuality. The most
important thing, Bishop Gebremedhin said, is to prevent the abuse of children
in the Church.
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