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Ukrainian Christian Leaders Support 2006 as Year of Child

30.12.2005, [17:31] // Speech, greeting, press release //

Kyiv – The heads of various Christian denominations of Ukraine have responded to the request of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to have 2006 as the Year of the Protection of Children’s Rights. On 27 December 2005, the Christian leaders of Ukraine released their address to children, parents, teachers, political and civic activists and all people of good will in Ukraine about proclaiming 2006 as the Year of the Protection of the Child’s Spiritual World.

The text of the address emphasizes that on every Sunday and in every church community in 2006 a prayer request for children and their spiritual upbringing will be introduced. The pastoral care for children and parents will be increased and a Christian movement for the defense of the spiritual world of the child will be created.

The leaders believe that, in order to run this program, it is necessary to develop partnerships with church and school, to further the introduction of traditionally Christian Ukrainian values and the course of Christian ethics into the educational system.

The document stresses the need to develop cooperation on the basis of partnership with state institutions and civic organizations to develop and implement programs of sex education, the prevention of drug and alcohol addiction, smoking, and HIV/AIDS, and to overcome children’s homelessness, social orphans (children whose parents are alive but not taking care of them), and the sale of children.

The joint address was signed by 10 leaders of various Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant denominations of Ukraine.

Full text of the address in Ukrainian posted at:

• http://www.risu.org.ua/ukr/resourses/religdoc/ecumen_doc/2006_childsyear/