Eritrean orthodox church in Rotterdam at centre of abuse alarm
The Dutch refugee settlement agency COA has told young asylum seekers not to attend services at the Eritrean orthodox church in Rotterdam because of concerns they will be at risk of abuse, the Reformatorisch Dagblad
The Dutch refugee settlement agency COA has told young asylum seekers not to attend services at the Eritrean orthodox church in Rotterdam because of concerns they will be at risk of abuse, the Reformatorisch Dagblad says on Monday.
The organisation says it is has been made aware that young women may be being abused within the church community and that a large number of Eritrean girls have become pregnant.
There is reason to connect the church to the pregnancies and some of the girls may have been forced into having sex, the paper quotes the COA as saying. According to the paper, as many as 22 girls under the age of 18 may have become pregnant, a figure which the COA has not confirmed.
Vulnerable
‘We have been given evidence by staff, the refugee agency Vluchtelingenwerk and the guardianship agency Nidos,’ the spokesman said. ‘Young refugee minors are extremely vulnerable.We have informed the police and human trafficking expertise centre.’
There have been a number of ‘serious’ cases, the spokesman said. The girls are now being advised not to attend the services and can be banned from doing so by their guardians.
A spokesman for the church authorities, Teklit Girmazion, told the Reformatorisch Dagblad that he is shocked by the allegations. The church no longer allows people to visit overnight following complaints from locals, he said. While some youngsters do stay with other church members, he has no evidence they are being abused, Girmazion said.
DutchNews.nl: Eritrean orthodox church in Rotterdam at centre of abuse alarm
Berhe Tensea January 12, 2016
The tembien regime is trying hard to control churches in Europe and North America, through paid agents. In Canada the vast majority of church goers are silent opponents.
The few paid agents are helping the regime by reading pfdj meeting announcements hoping that people will show up in their meeting after service.
This news about rape and pregnancies beyond any ones imagination, and it must be punished.
Didi January 14, 2016
waste your time to acuse the government of Eritrea instead to help your people!! shame on you!
AHMED SALEH !!! January 13, 2016
Eritreans in diaspora underestimated the dangers caused from lack of
organized strong community . These young generation especially the
new comer refugees can easily fell prey to get exploited .
So to hear such sad stories doesn’t surprise to happen if they allowed
them to spend overnight in the church premises unsupervised .
The good people TEWAHDO believers must take this case seriously to find
evidences and do something about it .
HGDF cadres use any opportunity including churches to recruit supporters
and they don’t show shame to arrange dance party Guayla inside house of
God . If they use it like social meeting place , who is responsible ?
Isn’t HGDF culture we had been witnessing was strange ? Be honest!
RELIGION AND POLITICS DO NOT GET ALONG , SEPARATE THEM .
Tsehaye January 13, 2016
ወይ ጉድ! ሎምስ ገለ ክንሰምዕ ኢና. እቲ ቅዱስ ቤተ-ክርስትያን’ሲ መዘመውን መፍረይ ቆልዑን ኮይኑ. We are now harvesting what the barbaric Ghedli had sown. The destruction of our sacred church started during Ghedli, and what is left now is its skeleton just to remind us about its former glory. What people still don’t understand is that the end of the Tewahdo Church is also the end of Erirea.
AHMED SALEH !!! January 13, 2016
Tsehaye
The Jihadist Ghedli take the blame . Are you happy now ?
No wonder too many dishonest men prefer to close their eyes in denial
than face reality and confront it accordingly. It bothers when we find
ourselves with people who look for excuses to fool themselves than share responsibilities . What a shame !
habesha January 13, 2016
It is not a new Phenomenon From 1985 onwards our traditional orthodox, catholic stopped to act the house of God. Our Habeshsa people In sudan, Egypt, other arab countries and Australia, Canada, America, Europe used our innocent tradition, sisterhood and brotherhood raped our girls, introduced promiscuity even married women and who ever deny what is happening inside our churches are the people who are promoting this disgusting behaviour. It is for long time now our churches become like brothels. Our women and girls made our churches as the place of meeting boys and men sometimes from different religion without any shame. The onus is on the shepherd of the churches to tell their congregations abide by the church’s code of conduct or face expulsion forever(wuguz). If any preist is scared or afraid to challenge those unacceptable behaviour then the priest is a fake priest. I heard so many times that preists are scared to tell girls, women, boys off because they do not want to make parents angry. Priests should only be scared of God. Silence from preists, deacons, parents means they are happy with what is happening. Silence means Cooperation in the sin and crime. Lastly churches should introduce members only service so they would know who is who, and who is doing what and any unholy behaviour expulsion from the church fore ever.
Genet January 13, 2016
I think what it is the right advice. Eritrean young girls are being hunted by unscrupulous and merciless eritrean me who persuade these young new comer girls into having children by them and they also tell them that getting marries is not an option as it affected their benefits. So our sisters and daughters are raising children as single mothers. Nowadays all you see around in any European country is young mothers with children. Only very very few responsible men take responsibilities. So We as a society and as a community should and can solve this problem. In about 10-20 years, We are going to have so many children raised by only one parent and this will have very serious consequences in the quality of our future society.
Concerned Eritrawi January 13, 2016
Amen Genet.
Each and everyone of us have to be vocal and educate our community, church and wherever we are and we should start now.
AHMED SALEH !!! January 13, 2016
To abandon your young girls to become vulnerable for sex toys has to do with Eritrean
community immoral social ills . Because it took place in vicinity of church for long
period to see young girls impregnated under the watch of grown ups men and women , I
blame members of that community silent reaction not individuals from the church . If
people were courageous to confront wrongs they might protect them from any harm.
When we undermine values of our distinguished culture we become disconnected lost souls
from Eritrean society to contradict the identify of our true heritage .
We are the perpetrators of wrong deeds nothing else to blame for excuse either be in our
house our outside our house .
Genet comment need attention to consider because we start to observe in our communities
many of them impregnated by irresponsible black or Latino Americans . For some reason
people like to hide than raise this issues and try to bury openness in sand.
DO NOT FORGET IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD .
Aman January 13, 2016
This is a dangerious and alarming allegation, blaming a church for some sexual abuse. In the UK there is a culture of attacting people of faith and specially christians. Whenever there is some sort of religious activity involving women the stories of abuse pop up overnight. I am not saying it does not happen but you can not blame a church for the acts of some immoral individuals. I do not beleive it is done by religious leaders but just as some have mentioned they might be using it as a meeting point. We know the Orthodox church lacks spiritual teaching but it has always stood firm against sex before marriage. Acording to the news the girls have guardians i.e they are underage asylum seekers, which indicates that some idiots are advising them they will have a better chance of getting papers if they are pregnant. I am sure this is a premature news, that needs further investigation. If they are mature enough to get pregant they are mature enough to expose the criminals who ever they are.
ተወልደ ሰገን January 13, 2016
እዞም ኣብ ሆላንድ ኣብ ጥንሲ ተዋፊሮም ዝሓደሩ ኣቐሽቲ ተዋህዶ ዳርጋ ኩሎም ኣስመራ ዝመላለሱ ሰለይቲ ህግደፍ እዮም፡፡ እታ ንዝሙት ዝተዋፈሩላ ለይቲ፡ ነተን ደቀንስትዮ ናብ እንዳ ስደተኛ መዕቆቢ እናኸዱ ናይ ልደት በተክስያን ሕደራ ኢሎም ምሰምጽኡወን፡ ገለ ሽኮር ነገር ዝጥዕም ናይ ልደት ኣስትዮም ዝገብርኦ ይፈልጣ ኣይነበራን። ምስ ተበራበራ ጥራይ አንታይ ከም ዝገበራ ተፈሊጡወን፡፡
Abate January 13, 2016
Mr. Tewelde,
ዘእምን ሓሶት አምጽእ። መንግስታዊ ኣካል ሆላንድ ነዚ ክሲ እዚ ንኽጠቅስ ብውሕድ እቲ ዘይግቡእ ተግባር እዚ ጭቡጥን ንውሕ ንዝበለ ጊዜ ድተፈጸመ ክኸውን ኣለዎ። እንተ ንስኻ ከም ፍጻመ ዝሓለፈት ልደት ተምስላ እዚ ኸዓ ነቲ ግፍዒ የህስሶ።
ሓውና በርሀ ትንስአ ኸዓ ንዝኾነት ፍጻመ ምስ ተምቤን የተኣሳስራ፣። ሕማቕ ኣመል።
k.tewolde January 13, 2016
Wow,there is nothing HGDEF would not do including spiking your drinks.Only a coward who could not accomplish his need sober would do that.It is a shame , it has been a while since we flushed our core values down the gutter, and God is punishing us in so many ways, it is a sad, melancholic nation with no fighting instinct left in it.
tekle January 13, 2016
ኣማሓደርቲ ቤተክርስትያን ሮተርዳም ናይ ክርስትና ሃይማኖት ብዝፈቕዶ ስርዓት መሰረት ቤተክርስትያን ዘማሓድሩ ኣይመስለንን፡ ምኽንያቱ ሓደ መዓልቲ ኣብቲ ቤተክርስትያን ተረኺበ ነይረ፡ ኣብቲ መወዳእቱኡ ዝሃቡዎ መግለጺ ስርዓተ ክርስትና ዝተኸተለ ኣይነበረን። እቲ መግለጺ ከምዚ ይብል፡ 1.መብጸዓ ዝኣቱ ሰብ ካብ 500 ኤዉሮ ንታሕቲ ኣይንቕበልን ኢና 2.ክርስትና ትኽተሉ ካብ እቶትኩም 10% ነዚ ቤተክርስትያን እዚ ከተዋጽኡ ኣለኩም እንተዘይኮይኑ ግን ኣብ ላዕሊ ፈተዉቲ ስለዘይትረኽቡ መንግስተሰማያት ኣይትኣትዉን ኢኹም ዝብል ነበረ።
alenalki January 13, 2016
No comment!!!! Sik….yhaysh.
Hagherawi January 13, 2016
Is it difficult to ask the authorities to investigate the problem, to know the whole truth, and bring those involved in these crimes to the court ?