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Summary: NEW YORK (AP), 8 May, 2002 -- As the United Nations turns its attention to the plight of children, a maverick group of Roman Catholics is asking the international body to intervene in the priest sex abuse crisis.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:53 a.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) -- As the United Nations turns its attention to the plight of children, a maverick group of Roman Catholics is asking the international body to intervene in the priest sex abuse crisis. Catholics for a Free Choice planned to hold a news conference to outline its demands on Wednesday, the first day of a U.N. special session on children. The advocacy group, which supports abortion rights and other positions contrary to church teachings, has asked a U.N. panel to investigate whether the church's response to molestation claims worldwide violated the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was unclear what impact, if any, the Committee on the Rights of the Child could have on the church. The panel reviews reports that nations submit on children's welfare but has no enforcement authority, a U.N. spokesman said. Monsignor Anthony Frontiero of the Vatican's U.N. mission referred inquiries to the Vatican embassy in Washington, which did not return a call seeking comment. Since January, the U.S. church has been shaken by allegations that some bishops protected priests suspected of molesting children. The abuse issue has also surfaced in Ireland, Poland and other countries. Catholics for a Free Choice, meanwhile, has been working to limit the Vatican's influence in the United Nations. The group has lobbied for years to revoke the Vatican's status as a permanent observer, which gives the Holy See many of the same rights as a full U.N. member. At the special session running through Friday, delegates from more than 150 countries will discuss developments since the 1989 accord on children's rights and a 1990 World Summit for Children. They will also make plans for the coming decade. At an unrelated interfaith meeting Tuesday on the children's summit, Lutheran Bishop Gunnar Stalsett of Oslo, Norway, told reporters that ``we need to ask whether our religious institutions are fit for children.'' Responding to a question, the bishop conceded that he was thinking of the U.S. Catholic scandals. But, he said, ``in every religious community there are histories of abuse and exploitation and we need to speak openly with each other about that.'' A statement from the interfaith meeting laid out a long list of needs that go unmet for many of the world's children, including safe drinking water, health care, freedom from poverty, universal primary education and equal access to schools for girls. It also said sexual abuse, labor exploitation and homelessness were among the scourges facing children worldwide. The group said children's ``important legal rights'' include ``special protection owed to a child before as well as after birth.'' William Vendley of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, which sponsored the meeting, said this referred to health care for children in the womb, not opposition to abortion. On that issue ``we have learned to respect conscience,'' he said. The 11 conferees issuing the statement included Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, chairman of the Vatican council on the child and family; Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo of East Timor, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; and Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist figures.