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Plans being made for a September papal visit to East Timor are drawing criticism from local human rights groups. The costs will be too high and people’s lives are already being disrupted they say.
Extremely expensive
Last Thursday human rights organisation Lao Hamutuk told Union of Catholic Asian (UCA) News that the Government’s budgeted US$12 million is out of line with the country’s extreme poverty.
Among the provisions within the budget is an altar costing US$1 million.
A researcher at the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis is concerned about the imbalance between the amount budgeted for the papal visit and the amount budgeted for food production.
Far from the millions the Government has set aside for the two-days Francis will spend in East Timor, it has earmarked only US$4.7 million to increase food production the researcher says.
Such a “really low” budget will contribute almost nothing to increasing East Timor’s food production sustainability or to agricultural development.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is concerned about the Southeast Asian country.
It says East Timor is facing major challenges in terms of food security.
In addition, the United Nations organisation says high inflation and weather changes have reduced grain production.
Right now, about 364,000 people (27 percent of the population) are currently suffering from acute food insecurity.
Families evicted
The location chosen for the papal Mass is also garnering criticism.
It will be held in Tasi-Tolu, an open area on the coast about eight kilometres from Dili – East Timor’s capital city.
To create the space needed for the Mass, the Government has seized 23 hectares of land.
Human rights activists say the confiscation will displace the 185 families who live there.
A Land Network coordinator says the Government hasn’t offered the families – who are all poor – any alternatives.
“They are still waiting for compensation” the coordinator told UCA News.
” The date of their eviction is constantly changing. The lives of these families are uncertain at the moment, they don’t know where to go.”
Catholic majority
Like the Philippines, East Timor has a Christian majority.
Almost 98 per cent of the population is Catholic.
About 700,000 of East Timor’s 1.3 million population are expected to attend the papal Mass.
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