| UNFPA IN THE NEWS - WEEK OF APRIL 5-11,
2003 The Islamic Republic
News Agency (IRNA), reported April 6 that UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's Special
Adviser on the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals Jeffrey Sachs said the current
unprecedented population explosion is one of the greatest challenges
the world faces in achieving sustainable development, said a
press release of the UN Information Center here. "Success
in population policy will translate into success in many other
areas we care about," Sachs said last weekend in the Rafael
Salas Memorial Lecture at UN Headquarters in New York. The lecture
series was initiated in 1989 in tribute to Rafael Salas, who
headed the UNFPA from its creation until his death in 1987. Read: IRNA Pakistan News Wire reported April 9 that Oliver Brasseur, Country
Representative for UNFPA called on the North West Frontier Province
Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Inayatullah Khanto
to discuss providing quality health care facilities to mother
and child in the province. In an April 5 story by the Turkish Daily News, it mentioned
that United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO are
also providing emergency health kits to Turkey amid the expected
mass refugee influx to Turkey's southeastern border. Canada's National Post
ran an April 10 editorial noted, "If
ever there was evidence the UN wouldn't be the first organization
to turn to for national liberation services, Cambodia is it.
UN agencies operating in the country are everywhere." The
editorial mentioned that there's the FAO, UNAIDS, UNCOHCHR, UNDP,
UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODDC, UNV, WFP and WHO, not to
mention big-name advisors such as Columbia University's Jeffrey
Sachs. "No doubt some good is being done by some of these
operations, but these are not the best foundations for building
freedom and democracy," argued the editorial. Read: National
Post An April 10 letter by
Thomas A. Blanchfield, Ret. Colonel, of Jensen Beach that ran
in The Stuart News/Port
St. Lucie (FL)
noted that the purpose of the United Nations was "to maintain
international peace and security." The program initiatives
- i.e., UNICEF, UNEP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNITAR, UNU, WFC and WFP
- are helpful, humanitarian practices. He wrote: "The contention
is that the United Nations, as a term, is an oxymoron. Their
original mission has been nullified by the vetoes of members
of the Security Council causing our fighting forces to be labeled
a "coalition" rather than a "unification." In an April 8 television
report by MSNBC Reports, host Joe Scarborough interviewed Gloria
Feldt, CEO
of Planned Parenthood Federation
of America. Scarborough asked, "The Pentagon's office of
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance is already deploying
into Iraq, providing schools, jobs, running water, and if Planned
Parenthood gets their way, birth control and abortion rights...Don't
you think it's dangerous for us going over there preaching about
abortion, birth control and condoms?" Feldt responded, "First
of all, abortion is not even a part of the care that's provided.
The United Nations Population Fund is taking the lead in providing
these reproductive health care services." Feldt continued: "The
United Nations Population Fund is not providing abortion services
as part of this. They certainly are providing condoms, I should
hope, as a means of preventing the spreads of HIV and AIDS, as
a means of enabling people to prevent unintended pregnancies,
particularly when they are in such unstable conditions as displaced
persons are." Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg,
VA) ran an April 6 letter by Scott Weinberg, Population Research
Institute's Director of
Government Affairs, that applauded, "Thank you for printing
the truth about UNFPA-supported coercion in China ["Rep.
Davis: Champion of women, opponent of UNFPA funding," March
21]. Weinberg claimed, "The United Nations Population Fund
and its pro-abortion allies seek to misrepresent the State Department
findings showing UNFPA support of forced abortion in China." He
urged, "One thing all Americans should agree on is that
forced abortion is wrong. It is unconscionable that UNFPA and
its allies would support forced abortion in China with funding
and technical and surgical support, then seek to cover up not
only their support but also the coercion." Read: Free
Lance-Star An April 6 editorial
by The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) mentioned that the
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation's grant is the largest ever for International Partnership
for Microbicides.
The Rockefeller Foundation pledged $15 million to the organization
last year, and several governments as well as the World Bank
and the United Nations Population Fund have also chipped in.
Read: The
Courier-Journal An April 9 story by The Chicago Tribune (IL) mentioned the Harper's
Index that listed: $34,000,000 - Amount the U.S. withheld from
the UN Population Fund last year, citing links to forced abortions
in China. The Daily News reported April 10 that Liz Karonga was elected
vice-president of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations
(ZIPR). She works for the United Nations Population Fund in the
field of advocacy and public relations. Read: The
Daily News
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