BANGKOK (UCAN) -- About 100 representatives of faith-based organizations from East Asia and the Pacific region have met and discussed religious, cultural and other challenges they face in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim representatives from 13 countries as well as some government officials took part in the first such gathering, the Children and AIDS consultation held Jan. 15-17 in Bangkok.

In the statement they issued on the last day of the conference, they asserted: "We should not set boundaries based on our cultural values to meet the needs of the most at risk, many of them young, especially in HIV prevention."

Based on information presented at the consultation, they said more than 1.5 million children in the Asia-Pacific region are infected with or affected by HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to AIDS. This figure includes children orphaned by AIDS.

They emphasized their "commitment to compassion and care for those in need."

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, organized the event at a downtown hotel.

Prawate Khid-arn, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, said in his sharing that the Church must move beyond theoretical and legal debates to practical action.

It must protect the rights and dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS, "especially women and children, the most vulnerable, he urged." Nonetheless he admitted sex education is "a sensitive area" in his native Thailand.

The stance of various religions on condom use, widely touted to prevent HIV infection but banned by Catholic teaching, came up for discussion.

Some participants claimed Buddhism and Islam have ample room to allow such use. They admitted, however, that the argument most often put up against this is that condoms lead to promiscuity.

Several Buddhist participants said this is why Buddhist monks fighting HIV/AIDS in predominantly Buddhist countries in Asia emphasize the Buddhist teaching of compassion and leave it to people's discretion on how to implement preventive measures.

A Catholic participant whose organization works to fight HIV/AIDS told UCA News on Jan. 15 that the organization does not exclude condoms when talking about HIV/AIDS prevention. "We do not distribute them, but what individuals do is their responsibility," said the participant, who requested anonymity.

Lawrence Maund, project manager of the Sangha Metta Project, a Buddhist organization, nonetheless argued that activists "should be sensitive to the values that are incorporated in our faith." His group, based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, has engaged monks in HIV/AIDS prevention and care since 1997.

International agencies should be aware of these values and take them into account, Maund stressed. He also pointed out that faith-based organizations are not alone in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Anupa Rao Singh, director of the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, affirmed this. Even so, she said faith-based organizations are an indispensable component in the battle. "Your partnership as faith-based organizations is critical," she asserted.

"We cannot succeed" in this fight "without tapping into the strong roots you have within communities, your large social network, the respect and trust of your constituents, as well as the moral and ethical know-how to work for positive social change," the UNICEF official told representatives of these groups.

Among intrafaith, interfaith and interdenominational networks and organizations working across countries on HIV/AIDS in the region, the largest number are Christian initiatives, Singh observed.

Fijian Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi, executive secretary of the World Council of Churches Office in the Pacific, noted in his sharing that compassion and care "are the expertise of faith-based organizations."

Sister Mercedes Karuna Placino, a Filipina social worker, said it is most important to "transform compassion and love into action."

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(Accompanying photos available at here)