HEADQUARTERS BRIEFING BY UNFPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

HEADQUARTERS BRIEFING BY UNFPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) did not support or promote abortion anywhere in the world, the Fund’s Executive Director,Thoraya A. Obaid, told correspondents at a Headquarters briefing yesterday.  On the contrary, the services UNFPA promoted reduced the incidence of abortion, and figures showed that abortion rates were actually declining in the 32 counties in China where the Fund operated.

Giving UNFPA’s official reaction to the United States’ announced withdrawal of $34 million in funding for the United Nations family planning programme, Ms. Obaid said it was with “deep regret” that she was confirming the loss of funding for this year.  The loss was especially troubling since the fact-finding mission sent to China by the United States had found “no evidence” that UNFPA had supported or participated in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China.  The United States decision followed allegations that the Fund had supported forced abortions and sterilization of women in China.  The United States, she said, provided about 12.5 per cent of UNFPA's $274 million annual budget.

“It is disturbing that the United States Administration has chosen to disregard the findings and recommendations of its own fact-finding mission, and also the will of the United States Congress that had approved $34 million in funding for UNFPA for 2002,” she said.  In the past, the United States Administration had chosen to fund UNFPA with the proviso that no United States funds were spent in China and the Fund had honoured that stipulation by putting United States money in a separate account.  “We could have done the same this year, which would have allowed United States taxpayer dollars to provide life-saving services in the other 141 countries where we work.”

Ms. Obaid said she was personally very disappointed by the decision and hoped that the funding would resume and increase next year, adding:  “we have many supporters who will be working for this over the coming year.”  She acknowledged that the loss of $34 million would be devastating for women and families in the poorest countries.  Women around the world counted on UNFPA for ensuring health services during pregnancy and birth, for voluntary family planning and for services to protect them from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, she pointed out.

In concrete terms, it was estimated that $34 million for reproductive health and family planning would be enough to prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, nearly 60,000 cases of serious maternal illness and over 77,000 infant and child deaths.

Ms. Obaid said that UNFPA was working with the Chinese Government in

32 counties to move its policies and practices away from coercion and towards a voluntary approach that respected human rights and dignity and was in line with international agreements.  Its reproductive health programme of assistance was requested by the Chinese Government and approved by the 36-Member-State United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/UNFPA Executive Board, of which the United States was an active member.

That programme, she said, adhered strictly to the voluntary, human rights-based approach to reproductive health and family planning stipulated by the

1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development and unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.  The abolition of birth quotas and family planning acceptor targets in the 32 counties of China was a condition of UNFPA assistance.

Reiterating that UNFPA was strongly opposed to population control, Ms. Obaid said that the Fund did not support the Chinese Government’s one-child policy and did not take part in managing the Government’s programme.  “UNFPA works to ensure that women and couples have the information and means to make informed and voluntary decisions about pregnancy and family planning,” she said.  In addition to its insistence on the removal of quotas and acceptor targets, UNFPA continued to press China to make progress by removing economic incentives and disincentives used to encourage small or discourage large family size.

She said that partly due to the Fund’s strong advocacy, China had officially recognized HIV/AIDS as one of the most serious problems that would affect it in the future.

Ms. Obaid further acknowledged that the United States had been one of the strong supporters of the UNFPA from the very beginning, and she still believed that that strong partnership should continue because it was a good policy.  In today’s complex world, population, family planning, women’s empowerment and HIV-prevention were issues that deserved more attention and funding, not less.  Those issues were key to reducing poverty and increasing global stability and prosperity, she said.  Programmes and policies that benefited women also benefited families, communities and nations, she added.

Stirling Scruggs, UNFPA’s Director of Information, also present at the press conference, described as preposterous the charges that the Fund had been involved in the practices alleged.

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