Tuesday, March 18, 2008

RUSSIAN CHURCH CRITICIZES KOSOVO'S...


17:50 GMT, Mar 18, 2008

Russian Church criticizes Kosovo's recognition as independent state

     GENEVA.  March 18 (Interfax) - The Moscow Patriarchate believes the
situation surrounding Kosovo's independence declaration involved double
standards in the area of human rights protection.
"Certain countries often use human rights as a tool to promote
their national interests. It is especially visible in the conflict
regions on the planet. The most recent example is the situation in
Kosovo and Metohija," Metropolitan Kirill, the head of the Moscow
Patriarchate's external relations department, said at the 7th session of
the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday.
Such situations "foment tensions in the world and sow prejudices
regarding human rights," he said.
In building a human rights system in any state, the local
population's cultural and historical traditions should be born in mind,
he said.
"Certain countries are behaving absolutely undemocratically in
considering their human rights enforcement systems universal. Using
direct or indirect methods, they are trying to impose their standards on
other peoples or become the only judges in the human rights area," he
said.
Metropolitan Kirill said relations similar to those between a
teacher and a pupil are unacceptable in these matters.
Source:  http://www.interfax.com/3/375755/news.aspx