17 January 2006
PHILIPPINES: EU FUNDS FOR ISLAMIC COURTS
Manila, 16 Jan. (AKI9 - European Union funds are set to help the Islamic Sharia judicial system operating in the mostly Muslim Mindanao autononomous region of the southern Philippines, where separatist groups have waged war since the 1970s. Part of the money
according to a report from the Philippines News Agency, will be used for a series of seminars to train court staff. The overall aim of the programme is to reinforce the civil and judicial rights of the the local population.
Fighting between several secessionist Muslim groups and government forces has forced millions of people to flee their homes in Mindanao - the second largest island of the Philippines archipelago.
The EU programme will also seek to further integrate the Sharia judicial process with the secular legal system applied elsewhere in the mostly Christian country of 80 million. Some 4.6 percent of the population is Muslim.
The EU programme will be implemented in conjunction with the Philippines' government- owned Mindanao Economic Development Council, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as Mindanao's government.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) - one of the poorest regions of the Philippines - was created in 1996.
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