Sharyl Corrado and Mark Elliott

A Balkan-Relief email discussion list has been created to encourage sharing of resources and networking among individuals and relief agencies, in order to facilitate emergency relief efforts in the Balkans, particularly in countries bordering Kosovo which are dealing with the catastrophic refugee problem.  Contents of the list include: 1) resources to offer in the relief efforts; 2) requests for resources of any type, including personnel, supplies, and financial support; 3) volunteer and employment opportunities related to relief efforts; 4) news items directly related to relief activities, both public and personal; and 5) any other communication that would facilitate relief work in the Balkans.  Governmental, non-profit, and Christian organizations and individuals are welcome to subscribe.  To subscribe, send a blank message to subscribe-balkan-relief@xc.org.  For more information, contact list moderator Larry Wilson at lwilson@xc.org.

Hansen, Stephen A.  Getting Online for Human Rights. Washington, DC:  American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1998.  48 pp.

Getting Online for Human Rights (http://shr.aaas.org/Online/contents.htm) provides valuable information in a clear and well-organized way.  Topics covered include locating human rights information on the Internet, Internet authenticity and security issues, and Internet information sharing mechanisms (discussion groups, news groups, etc.).  Basically, the booklet amplifies and illustrates the following sentence from the introduction:  "The Internet is both a medium of communication and an online library of human rights documentation."  The author is to be commended for straightforward directions and illustrations.  On pages 15-16 (on-line at http://shr.aaas.org/Online/Section1-1.htm#Utilize Internet Directories) find a description of websites specializing in human rights resources, which are made available through online annotated bibliographies, directories, and databases.

Contact  Gretchen Richter, AAAS, 1200 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC  20005; tel:  202-326-6787; fax:  202-289-4950; e-mail: grichter@aaas.org; website: http://shr.aaas.org/Online/Cover.htm.  The document is available on-line at no charge.  The print edition costs $5 plus $2.50 postage.

Craig Zelizer, Ph.D. candidate and adjunct faculty at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, maintains two e-mail lists posting job openings related to the former Soviet Union (NIS) and East Central Europe (CEE), primarily for positions with nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and in post-Soviet countries. To subscribe, send a blank message to nisjobs-subscribe@onelist.com or ceejobs-subscribe@onelist.com.

The French-language Orthodox monthly news service SOP (Service Orthodox de Presse), published since 1975, has been on-line free of charge since March 1997 at http://www.orthodoxpress.com/.  Each issue contains news from a variety of countries, as well as resources and book reviews.  The March 1999 issue, for example, contains news from Egypt, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Albania, Poland, France, Lebanon, and Kenya.  Subscriptions to the print version are 200 F per year within France, 225 F internationally.  Regular supplements to the monthly service are available for a small additional fee, and several other news services can be combined with SOP as a package deal.  See http://www.orthodoxpress.com/abonnement.html for a complete range of subscription options, or contact:  SOP, 14, rue Victor Hugo, 92400 Courbevoie, France; tel. 33-01-43-33-52-48; fax 33-01-43-33-86-72; e-mail:  sopdoc@micronet.fr.

Hunt, Kathleen. Abandoned to the State:  Cruelty and Neglect in Russian Orphanages.  New York:  Human Rights Watch, 1998.  $15.00.

This informative, well-researched, and shocking report documents the state of orphanages in Russia.  Ample evidence confirms cruel and inhumane treatment of children by orphanage staff.  According to the report, orphans "may be beaten, locked in freezing rooms for days at a time, abused physically, [and] denied adequate education and training. It is deplorable that the very state that is charged with the care and nurture of more than 600,000 children 'without parental care,' condemns untold numbers to an archipelago of grim institutions."  The report also includes relevant extracts of national and international laws and practical recommendations.  The complete report is available free of charge at http://www.hrw.org/reports98/russia2/.  Print copies cost $15.00.  Contact:  Human Rights Watch, Publications Department, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor, New York, NY 10118-3299; tel:  212-216-1813 or 212-290-4700; e-mail:  mingesp@hrw.org; website: http://www2.viaweb.com/hrwpubs/info.html.  In Europe, contact: Central Books, 99 Wallis Rd., London E9 5LN, UK; tel: 44-81-986-4854; fax:  44-81-533-5821.  Human Rights Watch provides a variety of other valuable reports and information at http://www.hrw.org/.

International Fides News Service (http://www.fides.org) of the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in 1927 to disseminate news fostering Roman Catholic missionary cooperation, spiritual communion, and material support. Fides provides news, photos, and studies of contemporary Roman Catholic mission conditions throughout the world.  The print and e-mail versions are available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Chinese for U.S. $75.00 (Lire 125,000) from Fides International Service, Via di Propaganda 1c; 00187- Rome, ITALY; tel:  39-06-69880115; fax:  39-06-69880107; e-mail: fides@fides.va; website: http://www.fides.org/abbona-ing.htm.

The Slavic Reference Service (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/spx/srs.htm) of the University of Illinois Slavic and East European Library answers bibliographic and reference questions in the humanities and social sciences from individuals and libraries at no charge.  One section of the Slavic Reference Service website (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/spx/fsrsl5.htm) provides links to search engines in Russian and a variety of East Central European languages. Reference questions may be submitted by phone, fax, or e-mail to the Slavic Reference Service, 225 Main Library, Slavic and East European Library, University of Illinois, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801; tel:  217-333-1349; fax: 217-244-8976; e-mail: hfsulliv@uiuc.edu;  website: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/spx/slform.htm.  (See also East-West Church & Ministry Report 1 (Summer 1993), 18.)

Metaphrasis News Agency has posted issues 10-17 (12 May - 6 July 1998) of its Russian-language information service on religion in post-Soviet lands on the internet (http://www.glasnet.ru/~mf/).  Since November 1998, Metaphrasis news, events, analytical articles, and book reviews have been posted on a new Russian-language Orthodox site, Sobornost (http://www.sobor.ru/), updated several times a week.  Of special interest is the electronic bulletin "Pravoslavnye Resursy Internet Segodnya i Zavtra [Orthodox Internet Resources Today and Tomorrow]" (http://www.sobor.ru/conference/index1.asp), which includes a description of Russian Orthodox sites.  This site also provides a Russian Orthodox perspective on the Kosovo crisis.

The Russia Intercessory Prayer Network, maintained by Zhenya Dikaryova, Seattle, WA, as a means of facilitating prayer for Russia, now offers RIPnet News, a free daily e-mail list monitoring religious liberty in Russia and the former Soviet Union.  To subscribe, e-mail ripnet@ripnet.org.  The RIPnet website (http://www.ripnet.org) contains a searchable archive of past articles, as well as links to a variety of related websites.

Ray Prigodich, professor of missions at Denver Seminary, Denver, CO,  and associate academic dean of Donetsk Christian University, Donetsk, Ukraine, regularly forwards articles on religion in Russia to a self-maintained list of interested parties.  Along with Compass Direct, Keston News Service, and the Russia Intercessory Prayer Network, Professor Prigodich provides one of the most consistent sources of information on religion in the former Soviet Union.  To be added to his list, e-mail Prigodich@aol.com.

Eesti Kirik (Church of Estonia), a weekly Estonian-language newspaper of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, has been on-line since October 1998 at http://www.kirikuleht.ee/.  It publishes news about Lutherans and other Christians in Estonia. Contact:  Ms. Sirje Semm, editor, Ülikooli 1, Tartu, EE2400 Estonia; tel: 8-27-431-437; fax: 8-27-441-231; e-mail: eelkleht@tartu.astronet.ee.  The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church home page (http://www.zzz.ee/eelk/) also contains helpful information, such as names and contact information for a variety of departments within the church.

The Russian-language homepage of the Russian True Orthodox Church [Istinno-Pravoslavnaya Tserkov] (http://www.ipc.od.ua/), published by the Odessa and Crimea Eparchy, contains a variety of helpful information, including contact information for parishes in the Black Sea-Kuban and Odessa Eparchies, and a list of church publications.  Especially helpful is material from the directory Gde Istinno-Pravoslavnaya Tserkov? (http://www.ipc.od.ua/sekt.html), providing short summaries of various religions and sects.  Selected articles and tables of contents from back issues of the quarterly Vestnik I. P. Ts. [Vestnik of the True Orthodox Church], containing news, articles, upcoming events, and statistics, are available in full on-line.  Subscriptions to the print version are available for $12/year by contacting Irene Dutikow, 2536 37th St., Astoria, NY 11103; tel: 718-726-7870; e-mail:  IDutikow@aol.com.  In Ukraine, subscriptions are $5/year.  Contact: Natalia Sergeevna Kovtun, Box 64, 270014 Odessa-14, Ukraine; e-mail:  ipc@paco.net. In Russia, subscriptions are $8/year.  Contact: L.A. Yanisheva, Box 813, 190121 St. Petersburg-121, Russia.

While they do not have an active website at present, back issues of the Russian-language Russkiy pastyr [Russian Shepherd], the Holy Trinity Seminary (Jordanville, NY) alumni pastoral journal, are available at http://www.dux.ru/guest/church/.  Holy Trinity Seminary is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Print subscriptions are available for $18.00 per year (3 issues).  Contact:

Russkiy Pastyr - The Holy Trinity Seminary Alumni Pastoral Journal
Editorial Office
475 26th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94121
Tel:  415-387-5164
E-mail:  ruspast@flash.net

The mission of Rome-based ZENIT International News Agency (http://www.zenit.org) is "to provide objective and professional coverage of events, documents, and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church for a worldwide audience." ZENIT currently offers its subscribers free daily dispatches in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, including special reports, feature articles, interviews, and a dossier of Roman Catholic events.  To subscribe, send a message with the subject "subscribe" to english@zenit.org. ZENIT's daily dispatch provides regular information on the Balkan crisis from a Catholic perspective.

Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.

© 1999 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664