Wahroonga, N.S.W., Australia, 15.03.2004/ANN/APD The Seventh-day Adventist Church is supporting a plan by the United Nations (UN) to promote women's peace and security in the Pacific islands.

Joy Butler, Rose Howson and Bronwyn Mison, all departmental directors or managers at the Seventh-day Adventist church in the South Pacific's head office, attended a breakfast organised by the UN's Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Sydney on March 8 to raise money for the plan.

"I believe it is our responsibility as women to be peacemakers, both from a political and Christian point of view," says Mrs Butler, the director of women's ministries for the church. "If women could stop men going to war, there would be fewer wars."

Dr Elsina Wainwright, strategy and program director for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, spoke at the breakfast of the critical role women have played in bringing peace to the Pacific islands. She told stories of women in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and in the Solomon Islands taking guns off men and standing between opposing forces during times of civil war and ethnic tension. However, she noted this has not translated into leadership roles.

"The church needs to work more with organisations such as UNIFEM because the needs of Adventist women are similar to the needs of others in the Pacific," says Mrs Butler. "They want prayer for husbands and children who've turned away from the church. They want to free themselves from abusive relationships. They want an education. They want their children to have an education. And they want good health but need money to buy medicine or to see the doctor."

The husband of this woman has cut off her fingers because she has been paying her brother's university fees. The woman's brother attends Pacific Adventist University in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. "The husband of this woman is from another denomination and is angry she is sending money to Adventists," says Joy Butler of the Adventist Church's Women's Ministries Department. The church is supporting a UN plan to promote women's peace and security in the Pacific islands. (Editor: Brenton Stacey from ANN Australia for Adventist News Network and APD)