EU: A member of the European Commission has accused the Vatican of "bigotry" because of its opposition to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Mr Poul Nielsen, told The Irish Times that the Vatican's position was "factually wrong and highly damaging". In this sense, the Vatican was "part of the problem".
"The raw reality is that the only cure for AIDS is prevention." That meant making condoms available to poor people.
What he termed "bigotry" was the biggest threat, "because that is what stands in the way of honest and correct information". The former minister for development aid in Denmark said bigotry meant "closing your eyes on how people actually live". He cited as an example, "the messages we have seen coming out from the Vatican, trying to create some sort of campaign against condoms". He continued: "That is why I talk about bigotry as being part of the problem."
The Vatican has argued for chastity as a better way to prevent HIV/AIDS and Mr Nielsen said chastity would be just as good, "if it worked". But this was ignoring reality: "I don't have any problem with arguing for chastity or, just as important, to argue for respecting the young girls and their right to say 'No thank you'." But he added that, "in the world of reality, the protection is spelt 'condom'."
Mr Nielsen,who is in charge of of EU humanitarian aid to more than 60 countries, was in Dublin yesterday to attend the EU- African Union "troika" meeting at Farmleigh, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen. Mr Nielsen said there were no political criteria for humanitarian aid. Development co-operation was another matter: "There we have the whole range of democratisation, human rights, gender aspects and so on."
He said he encouraged good governance and what he called "emerging decency" in the countries he dealt with, especially those which had recently been riven by conflict.
While his focus was global, Africa was the main beneficiary of EU aid. Ireland's European presidency had been "very helpful" in advancing the dialogue between the EU and Africa.
Earlier this week, the EU decided that €250 million should be earmarked to finance "African peacekeeping in Africa" under the auspices of the African Union.