Article in Portuguese newspaper Público (Saturday, October 20, 2001) about the UN case:
Testemunhas de Jeová Ligaram-se à "Besta"
(Jehovah's Witnesses Connected with the "Beast")
http://jornal.publico.pt/2001/10/20/Sociedade/S05.html
http://jornal.publico.pt/2001/10/20/Sociedade/S05CX01.html
Excerpts:
«"The registry as NGO was made only to be able to give humanitarian help and defend the human rights in several countries of the world", said to [the newspaper] Público Pedro Candeias, spokesman of the Association of Jehovah's Witnesses [AJW] in Portugal. In Portugal, however, the disaffiliation from the registry is not yet officially known by the AJW, which represents nearly 50,000 believers.»
«This [JW] official says the religious group to which he belongs has had "an important role" in the help to populations of countries like Angola, Bosnia, Georgia, Rwanda and other African or Latin-American [countries]. "To reach those countries was complicated and, for that reason, it was necessary to registry" the WTBTS in the United Nations. But that registry, he says, does not compromise the Jehovah's Witnesses with "any political involvement" with the UNO.»
«"It is not a political maneuver", says the AJW spokesman, "because without the support of the UNO it would not be possible to distribute humanitarian help". And as the registry "does not violate the statutory precepts" of the JW, the criticisms to the registry in the DPI "do not have any basis", says Pedro Candeias.»
[end of newspaper excerpts]
If the criticisms "do not have any basis", and if the registry is so important "to give humanitarian help and defend the human rights in several countries of the world", why has the Watchtower Society hurriedly disaffiliated itself from the United Nations after the case was made known on the Internet?
The JW spokesman lied when he said the registry with the UN does not compromise the Jehovah's Witnesses with any political involvement with the United Nations.
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H2O Archives 1996-2001: http://geocities.com/osarsif/h2o.htm