Tag Archives: Topic: United Nations Population Fund

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The new UN Population Fund report is riddled with problems which undercut its call for $8.1B a year for ever more contraception in developing countries. The evidence for this ambitious claim is so thin that it should not be hard for critics to refute it, but here are 11 problems that jumped off the very first pages:

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Parroting UNFPA’s talking point, news stories on the UN’s family planning agency’s annual report focus on the claim that contraception is a human right. The media seem unconcerned that UNFPA has no authority to declare anything a human right, and rather naive in not seeing the crass self-interest inherent in demanding the products and services supplied by UNFPA are a “right.”

C-FAM: The UN Population Fund partnered with sexual and reproductive rights groups this week to push a controversial agenda of risky sexual behavior at a major international AIDS conference in Washington. An opening-day event organized by International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) and co-chaired by the UN Population Fund, “The Politics of Condoms: Cock-ups, Controversies and Cucumbers,” aimed to “re-energize” the use of condoms as a moral and effective method of preventing the spread of HIV.

Alex Newman at The New American: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is under heavy fire after an investigation by the Population Research Institute (PRI) showed yet again that the UN is working with the communist dictatorship ruling mainland China to enforce its barbaric “one-child” policy — complete with forced abortions, involuntary sterilization, kidnapping of “illegal” children, and other brutal tactics.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The shadow event is being reported on by “Countdown 2015 Europe” which describes itself as “a consortium of 16 leading European non-governmental organizations working to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights in developing countries.” Many of their partners will be participating in the debate.

LifeSiteNews: Save the Children (SCF) has issued a report claiming, “Pregnancy is the biggest killer of teenage girls worldwide.”

C-FAM: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is taking advantage of the upcoming Rio+20 conference in June to promote population control and reproductive rights as the backbone of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

Timothy Herrmann at Turtle Bay and Beyond: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is taking advantage of the upcoming Rio+20 conference in June to re-brand population control and market it as the backbone of sustainable development, particularly in the developing world.

CNSNews: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that millions of girls — teenagers and younger — need access to abortion and contraceptives in order to “avoid unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infections.”

LifeSiteNews.com: A new “reproductive health” bill being proposed in Tanzania’s National Assembly is “pure western imperialism,” according to a local pro-life leader. Emil Hagamu, Human Life International’s Regional Coordinator for English-Speaking Africa, called the bill “foreign ideology that is being imposed on our African culture whose objective is depopulation.”

C-Fam Friday Fax: A confidential audit of UNICEF and UNFPA found “gross” failures in transparency and surprisingly billions of dollars of unspent cash. Both agencies refused to disclose information on staff costs and travel. The auditor found that donors have “little knowledge regarding the ultimate destiny” of funds.

Turtle Bay and Beyond – International Law, Policy, and Institutions: A report conducted by UNFPA and the Armenian government health ministry revealed that women are aborting their female unborn children. Over the last 5 years over 7,000 women have had sex-selective abortions.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: An article in the New American reveals that some UN agencies will not account for a large amount of their funding.

Guardian.co.uk: The world is in danger of missing a golden opportunity for development and economic growth, a “demographic dividend”, as the largest cohort of young people ever known see their most economically productive years wasted, a major UN population report warned on Wednesda

William McGurn at WSJ.com (via Google): Nothing brings out the inner Malthus like a newborn baby. That’s especially true when that baby is born to a mother somewhere in Africa or Asia. According to the United Nations Population Fund, some time this coming Monday, probably in India, the world will welcome its seven billionth person. Well, maybe welcome isn’t exactly the right word.

LifeNews.com: More than 100 members of Congress have drafted a new letter to President Barack Obama asking him to cut off federal taxpayer funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) due to the agency’s participation in China’s brutal one child policy.

LifeNews.com: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved a resolution on Monday condemning the practice of prenatal sex selection before encouraging the work of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – known for funding China’s coercive one child policy.

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: The SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is on the record with strong support for H.R. 2059, legislation to prohibit funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This bill would ensure that taxpayers are no longer forced to fund this agency, which known for its involvement with China’s one-child policy and forced sterilization.

Boston.com: A House committee voted Wednesday to eliminate some $50 million that President Barack Obama requested for the U.N. organization that helps women and children in developing countries with reproductive health and family planning, a reflection of growing Republican anger with both the world body and its work in China.

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: The SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is on the record with strong support for H.R. 2059, legislation to prohibit funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This bill would ensure that taxpayers are no longer forced to fund this agency, which known for its involvement with China’s one-child policy and forced sterilization.

LifeNews.com: Legislation that would cut federal taxpayer funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA agency will get a hearing in a House committee next week, after Republicans put forward the bill following a vote from people saying they wanted it.

Bill Saunders at LifeNews.com: In August, Vice President Joseph Biden delivered remarks in China stating that he was not “second-guessing” China’s one-child policy: “Your policy has been one which I fully understand—I’m not second-guessing—of one child per family.”[1] While Biden and the White House later tried to backpedal from those comments, actions taken by the Obama administration actually lend taxpayer support to it, through U.S. contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is complicit in China’s coercive one-child policy.

LifeNews.com: new book has raised hackles among abortion advocates about just how much the UN Population Fund is to blame for more than 160 million missing girls in Asia: aborted in the quest for sons. Mara Hvistendahl’s Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men . . .

NCRegister.com (7/8): The pressure has been “intense and sustained,” said Piero Tozzi, global senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a U.S.-based group that monitors religious liberty . . . Tozzi also noted UNFPA’s bankrolling of a controversial “Adolescent Reproductive Health Program” that was halted in court last year after parental-rights activists brought a court action to halt the sex-ed program that they said encouraged promiscuity and violated parental rights.

LifeNews.com: UN agencies have stepped up funding of International Planned Parenthood Federation despite an economic downturn and increasing government reticence to fund the organization over abortion.

Marybeth Hicks at Townhall : In fact, “early gender socialization” is deemed unhealthy for children by powerful progressive organizations such as UNICEF, which defines “gender socialization” as “the process by which people learn to behave in a certain way, as dictated by societal beliefs, values, attitudes and examples.” UNICEF decries this process, noting that it begins even before a child is born when the community anticipates its arrival as a boy or girl.

The Guardian: In 1979 China signed a $50m four-year deal with a UN body designed to help it control its spiralling population through family planning. It was the largest foreign aid package Beijing had accepted in almost 20 years.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers on EarnedMedia.org: How does this affect us? We are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China. The international community funds UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Fund), as well as IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), and Marie Stopes International . . .

LifeNews: Republicans in Congress are looking to make more budget cuts and to give pro-life advocates another chance to make gains after the passage of bills that de-fund Planned Parenthood and stop direct taxpayer funding of abortions.

LifeNews: The UN is about to ask governments to fund the vaccination of every girl in the world against the sexually transmitted disease HPV, human papillomavirus. The controversial campaign could cost as much as $300 per person, totaling billions.

Christian Newswire: “While the UNFPA claims that hundreds of millions of women in the developing world are demanding contraceptives, our research around the globe has shown that this is simply not true,” concludes Mosher. “What they are actually crying out for is better primary health care for themselves and their families. We should stop funding population control programs and instead turn our attention to real problems like malaria, typhus, and HIV/AIDS.” “People are our greatest resource. Everyone, rich or poor, is a unique creation with something priceless to offer to the rest of us.”

One News Now: “Once again, Chinese police enforcing the government’s official one-child policy have used violence to force a pregnant woman to abort a second child.”

. . . Republicans added more cuts in the long-term resolution as one section cuts funding to the pro-abortion UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Agency) that has worked hand-in-hand with Chinese population control officials who have enforced the one-child rule with forced abortions and other human rights abuses.

Huffington Post: “As Republicans continue to push for sweeping cuts amidst federal budget talks, women’s rights advocates worry the threat to international abortion access is being overlooked.”

LifeNews: The theme of this year’s commission is “Fertility, Reproductive Health and Development.” The initial draft of this year’s outcome document was released last week and as expected, the text is rife with references to sexual and reproductive health, family planning and contraceptives. Sadly, despite mounting evidence of the problems of demographic decline, there is only one scant reference to countries experiencing below-replacement fertility.

Center for Reproductive Rights: The briefing paper examines the many barriers that women and young people face when trying to obtain family planning information and services—from high service costs to physical inaccessibility to discriminatory treatment by healthcare providers. It demonstrates that this lack of access has serious consequences for women’s and adolescents’ lives and health and violates a full range of human rights. Furthermore, it outlines states’ obligations under international human rights law to ensure that family planning information and services are available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality, and illustrates how human rights principles form the basis of effective, evidence-based family planning policies and services. The Center and UNFPA will officially launch the briefing paper on Wednesday, March 23 at UNFPA’s offices in New York. Download the full briefing paper to learn more about family planning and human rights.

LifeNews: “Instead, while they attacked during debate the pro-life provisions in the bill to cut Title X family planning funds, restore and make permanent the Mexico City Policy, and yank funding for the pro-abortion UNFPA, they introduced none of the expected amendments.”

Center for Reproductive Rights: “On September 23, 2010, the Center co-hosted a roundtable discussion with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Institute for Human Rights (IDOM) in Chisinau, Moldova on Reproductive Rights: Opportunities and Constraints in the Republic of Moldova. The roundtable included discussion on Moldova’s international human rights commitments and gaps in its compliance. It highlighted issues such as maternal mortality, family planning, abortion, and introducing mandatory sexuality education in schools.”

Toronto Star: “But few countries on Earth are worse to be pregnant in [than the Congo]. Every hour of every day, four females in the Democratic Republic of Congo die from complications of pregnancy and labour, according to statistics from the United Nations Population Fund. For every woman who dies giving birth, between 20 and 30 suffer serious health problems such as obstetric fistula.”

C-FAM: “The Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial countries held their annual forum here last week and, following the lead of the Canadian government, launched a new global initiative on maternal and child health. … While the host government was successful in keeping references to abortion out of the final document, the initiative calls for G8 countries to ‘commit to promote integration of HIV and sexual and reproductive health, rights and services within the broader context of strengthening health systems.’”

C-FAM: “The abortion giant, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has just released its latest financial statement. The report boasts of increased spending on youth programs and a significant increase in funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with an overall 20% boost in income as compared to 2008.”

LifeNews: “This week, abortion advocates the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and Amnesty International (AI) are teaming up with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to host the ‘first-ever’ briefings on ‘reproductive rights’ for the committees responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “‘The existing programs of family planning are imposing Western views on people who have a different view of life and very different desires for family size,’ he said. The approach taken by such groups as UNFPA and Planned Parenthood is ‘contraceptive imperialism,’ according to Mosher, ‘exporting the mentality of Manhattan … or Hollywood to relatively innocent, untouched corners of the world.’”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s January 8, 2010 Remarks on the 15th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development: “So we are rededicating ourselves to the global efforts to improve reproductive health for women and girls . . . One of President Obama’s first actions in office was to overturn the Mexico City policy, which greatly limited our ability to fund family planning programs . . . This year, the United States renewed funding of reproductive healthcare through the United Nations Population Fund, and more funding is on the way. The U.S. Congress recently appropriated more than $648 million in foreign assistance to family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide.”

LifeNews: “And, in a look ahead, it urged states to renew their commitment to the program, calling for over $200 billion (US) in funding for ‘sexual and reproductive health and family planning’ alone.”

LifeSiteNews: “The same week that UNFPA pulled its name from a graphic sex ed guide that came under criticism, the organization is holding a conference in Berlin to train 400 activists to demand countries fund and provide similar sex ed programs and abortions.”

C-FAM: “This week in Berlin, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the German government are hosting a meeting that brings together 400 ‘reproductive rights’ activists from across the globe to discuss strategies to push ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’ – including abortion – at the local, national and international level.”

CNSNews: “The report, called International Guidelines on Sexual Education, was released in June in conjunction with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization which works for universal access to ‘reproductive health care.’”

The Guidelines

“. . . the core belief in ‘too many people’ . . . really shows that this is a political outlook in search of a social or scientific justification. It is an already-existing prejudice, held by certain kinds of people . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “The Population Research Institute (PRI) is turning up the heat on the Obama administration for handing $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with news of yet another investigation confirming the UN group’s complicity in China’s coercive birth control policies

CNSNews: “The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) received $50 million from the United States government this year, despite its involvement in China, where the government’s population program, according to the U.S. State Department, includes a ‘coercive birth limitation policy” that in some cases results “in forced abortion or forced sterilization.’”

LifeSiteNews: “Human rights organizations have thoroughly documented evidence that women were physically coerced, threatened, tricked, and enticed with economic incentives during the implementation of the program, which sterilized a total of approximately 400,000 Peruvian women in just two years, 1997 and 1998, with the help of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).”

LifeSiteNews: “This week, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted its annual population award ceremony at the United Nations (UN) to honor an individual and an organization for “outstanding contribution” in the population field, including family planning and “reproductive rights” advocacy. The individual was Dr. Mahmoud Fathalla, a former advisor to both the World Health Organization and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and the organization was a Nicaraguan-based non-government organization that has been critical of the Nicaraguan government for instituting a complete ban on abortions.”

Samantha Singson reports at LifeSite: “This week, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted its annual population award ceremony at the United Nations (UN) to honor an individual and an organization for ‘outstanding contribution’ in the population field, including family planning and ‘reproductive rights’ advocacy. The individual was Dr. Mahmoud Fathalla, a former advisor to both the World Health Organization and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and the organization was a Nicaraguan-based non-government organization that has been critical of the Nicaraguan government for instituting a complete ban on abortions.”

Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute: “Despite general support in Timor for the continued criminalization of abortion, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as the Alola Foundation and Rede Feto, have been agitating for reconsideration of the legal status of abortion. The Alola Foundation has received support from certain United Nations agencies, namely the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Though CEDAW is silent as to abortion, CEDAW committee members have also pushed it under the guise of promoting ‘gender equality.’”

C-FAM reports: “The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), backed by European nations, major foundations and the UN Population Fund, has launched an aggressive campaign to thwart proposed Article 30, which would protect human life “from conception.” The country’s national assembly approved the amendment in a first reading by an overwhelming majority of 167-32 on April 21st, but it must go through a second reading before final promulgation by the President.”

LifeNews: “While the international community holds meetings around the world to discuss global progress towards achieving the goals outlined in the 1994 ICPD program, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and pro-abortion non-government organizations (NGOs) are attempting to block pro-life participation from discussions on ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights.’”

LifeNews: “The Senate on Thursday rejected an amendment that would have stopped the sending of taxpayer funds to the United Nations Population Fund. That’s the UN agency that has been found to have supported the Chinese population control program that …

LifeNews: “Democratic Party leaders in the House of Representatives shut down an attempt by a leading pro-life congressman to fix a budget bill that authorizes funding to a group that has supported forced abortions in China. Rep. Chris Smith hoped …

LifeNews: “Congressional Democrats have unveiled their new omnibus spending bill that will fund federal government programs through the Autumn months. The measure, H.R. 1105, contains language that would restore the money President Bush withheld from the UNFPA because of its …

In his remarks, Mr. Hoekman declared that family breakdown is a triumph for human rights — that divorce and out-of-wedlock births indicate the decline of patriarchy, a goal to be lauded.

LifeNews: “Now that President Barack Obama has fulfilled his promise to overturn the Mexico City Policy and fund groups that promote and perform abortions in other countries, he is laying out additional pro-abortion plans. In his statement accompanying his executive …

Following the Huffington Post’s recent attack on the Population Research Institute (PRI) for opposing policies of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), PRI challenged its critics to examine its evidence linking the organization with coercive population control programs in China.

Due to efforts by the Population Research Institute, for the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. government has decided to withhold nearly $40 million from the UN Population Fund.