Cambodia to host women's meeting

Cambodia to host women's meeting

CAMBODIA: Some 200 women from different religious faiths and civil society groups will gather in Cambodia next week for the first regional conference to challenge the lack of governmental action in tackling violence against women, officials said on Sunday.

The Nov. 19-Nov. 23 meeting in Phnom Penh will bring together women of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim faiths from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

It is being organized by the World Conference of Religions for Peace, said Yi Thon, acting secretary-general of the Inter- religious Council of Cambodia, an affiliate of the New York-based group. Participants plan to address "the lack of action regarding sexual violence against women" and the role women of religious faith can play in ending abuse against females in the region and the world, the organizer's statement said.

"While domestic violence is more difficult to document due to cultural acceptance, it is estimated that, around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, raped or suffered other abuses -- most often by someone she knows," it said.

"One in every four of these women were abused during pregnancy, endangering the lives of their unborn children as well as their own." -- AP

;AFP;HHR; ANPAu..r.. Lifestyle-Thailand-AIDS Thai teenagers shunning condoms JP/11/ASEAN2

Thai teenagers shunning condoms

THAILAND: Thailand's teenagers are shunning the use of condoms in an alarming trend, the health ministry warned on Sunday as it called for more campaigns to encourage their use for protection against diseases like HIV-AIDS.

A survey of 350 teenage boys in northeastern Kalasin province found that only 24 percent of them regularly used condoms as they believed it was safe to sleep with someone they knew, it said in a statement.

Thailand was hailed in the 1990s for an unabashed national publicity drive encouraging condom usage, which slashed infection rates of HIV-AIDS.

But the three-year survey demonstrated that most teenage boys today are only using condoms when they sleep with sex workers, which occurs relatively rarely, Nittaya said.

The survey also found that the average age of boys having sex for the first time had dropped from 16 years of age in 1998 to 14 years, due at least partly to their exposure to a more permissive society. -- AFP

;AFP;HHR; ANPAu..r.. Malaysia-pilgrims KL to buy plane to cut haj cost JP/11/ASEAN

KL to buy plane to cut haj cost

MALAYSIA: Pilgrims in Malaysia can look forward to cheaper flights as the government plans to buy an aircraft to transport them to Mecca, reports said on Sunday.

Second Finance Minister Jamaludin Jarjis was quoted by the Sunday Star as saying that the Pilgrimage Board was currently leasing aircraft from international airlines, and the costs were passed on to passengers.

But expenses for every pilgrim heading to Mecca could be cut by one-third if the board has its own aircraft, he said.

"We are aware that a pilgrim has to pay up to 20,000 ringgit (US$5,263) ... which is a great burden especially for those from the lower-income group. If the board can have its own plane, it can offer cheaper airfares," he said.

The move will also encourage younger Muslims to go for their pilgrimage, he said. -- AFP