| UNFPA IN THE NEWS - WEEK OF MARCH 1-7,
2003
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain
assured all cooperation from the government to ensure mother
and child
health, according to a March 3 story by The Independent. He was
speaking
as the chief guest at the inauguration of Skilled Birth Attendant
Training Pilot Programme at Comilla Diabetic Hospital auditorium.
Director General of the Directorate of health Prof. Md Mizanur
Rahman,
WHO Bangladesh Representative Dr. Suniti Acharya, UNFPA Deputy
Representative in Bangladesh Janet E. Jackson and President of
the
Obstetric and Gynecological Society of Bangladesh Prof. AB Bhuiyan
were
present.
The Independent (Bangladesh) reported March 5 that the Centre
for Policy
Dialogue (CPD) has organized a dialogue on "Workplace Environment
for
Women: Issues of Harassment and Need for Intervention," which
was
prepared under CPD and UNFPA program on Population and Sustainable
Development, says that the obvious cause of sexual harassment
is unequal
power relations in society as a whole.
UNFPA goodwill ambassador Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Sangay Choden
Wangchuck who is in Zhemgang dzongkhag to celebrate Women's Day
tomorrow, March 8 visited the 400-year old Zhemgang dzong and
the
Zhemgang town, according to a March 7 story by Kuensel. Read:
Kuensel
The national HIV/AIDS documentation, education and communication
center
in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, has received
computer and audiovisual equipment worth 21 million francs CFA
(US
$34,000) from UNAIDS, the center's director said in a March 6
story by
UN IRIN. Inaugurated in September 2002, the centre has a
seminar/conference room and a 10,000-book-capacity library. Center
official, Enock Senzongo said, "UNAIDS has given us some
books, and the
UN Population Fund has ordered 9,000 more books, which we expect
next
month," Read: UN IRIN
In a March 3 interview that ran in Indian Express, Dr. Pramilla
Senanayake, Assistant Director-General of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation, noted, "We have had a cut of $8 million
a year;
the United Nations Population Fund has had a cut of $34 million." Read:
Indian Express
The Daily Times (Pakistan) reported March 7 that in light of
Pakistan's
projected population growth rate of 3.9 percent by 2020, UNFPA
is now
providing a $35 million grant aid to Pakistan for its population
development and welfare plans under the "seventh country
program",
providing better quality services, child-spacing information,
education,
social mobilization and birth control awareness during 2004-8.
Read:
Daily Times
In response to escalating HIV rates in Sierra Leone, the United
Nations
launched a groundbreaking initiative to raise awareness among
its
peacekeepers and halt the spread of the epidemic in the country,
according to a March 6 story posted on AllAfrica news source.
It also
mentions that the risk of HIV infection increases during times
of
conflict, and after more than a decade of civil war Sierra Leone
is now
confronted with an emerging crisis, according to UNFPA. Read:
AllAfrica
TASR -Tlacova Agentura Slovenskej Republiky reported March 7
that
Slovakia will make a non-obligatory payment of 25,000 between
three
United Nations funds for this year, Slovak diplomatic sources
said
Thursday. UNHCR will get 10,000, UNICEF also 10,000, and UNFPA
5,000.
The contribution should express Slovakia's political support
for
international co-operation in the protection of refugees and
children,
and in population development.
A March 6 story by the South African Press Association mentioned
that
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang also receive modern
cervical
cancer screening equipment valued at around R2.5-million on behalf
of
the health department from the United Nations Population Fund.
According to a March 6 story by the Associated Press, Migration
and Aid
minister Jan O. Karlsson said Sweden will give 205 million kronor
(US$24.4 million) this year to UNFPA, up 20 million kronor (US$2.4
million) the from 185 million kronor (US$22 million) it provided
last
year. "We cannot accept that UNFPA's important work to improve
women's
rights and reproductive health is undermined because some countries
find
it hard to accept UNFPA's activities," Karlsson said.
CNSNews.com, along with several other conservative news services,
reported March 7 that conservatives stepped up their criticism
of
China's practice of so-called coercive abortion at a conference
held
Thursday in Washington, D.C., dismissing calls by some members
of
Congress to once again support the U.N. Population Fund. Leaders
of the
Population Research Institute and Concerned Women for American
lashed
out at the UNFPA's operations in China, highlighting new evidence
they
said shows the Asian nation continues to force women to abort
children.
Read: CNSNew.com, Christian
Broadcast Network
The New York Times ran a letter by Population Action International's
President, Amy Coen on March 5 that noted the new population
projections
released by the United Nations show the positive effect of international
family planning programs in developing countries, but they also
warn
that much more has to be done to prevent the spread of H.I.V.-AIDS,
which also accounts for the projected population decrease. Yet
under the
Bush administration, the United States reneged on its $34 million
pledge
to the United Nations Population Fund and reinstated the "global
gag
rule," barring health providers who receive American family
planning
assistance from counseling women about abortion or providing
abortion
services. The New York Times
In her March 4 op ed in , Frances Kissling,
President of
Catholic for a Free Choice, wrote, "I was stunned and delighted
when
President George W. Bush announced in his State of the Union
address
that he planned a major commitment to fighting AIDS." Then
she asked,
"
Could it be that I would be able to halt my barrage of letters
to the
president and to Secretary of State Colin Powell attacking their
assault
on family planning, their reneging on support for the UN Population
Fund, and their ''faith-based initiative,'' which would force-feed
the
poor with religious propaganda?" Read: Boston Globe featured a March 1 op ed, "The New AIDS
Fight;
Protect Women, Stop a Disease," by Kati Marton, board chair
of the
International Woman's Health Coalition. In it, she mentioned: "The
administration has already blocked a $34 million contribution
to the
United Nations Population Fund, the largest provider of family-planning
services, because of claims that it supported forced abortions
and
sterilizations in China. (A subsequent State Department investigation
found no evidence for this claim.)" Read: New York Times
Gloria Feldt, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation
of America,
is sounding the alarms on what she says is a stealthy but relentless
"
war on women" being waged by the Bush administration, reported
Tucson
Citizen (AZ) on March 7. Feldt cited, "At the behest of
anti-abortion
activists, Bush cut off $34 million in funding to the United
Nations
Population Fund, dollars used for maternal and infant health
care,
family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention and breast-feeding promotion
in 142
developing countries. He also banned the use of U.S. funds by
international planning organizations that provide abortions or
information about abortions." Read: Tucson Citizen In a March 6 letter that ran in by Betty
Lou
Well of Fort Pierce, FL, she wrote, "Since taking office
in 2001,
President Bush and his administration have made one policy decision
after another that jeopardize the current state of women, both
in the
U.S. and the rest of the world." She also mentioned Bush
de-funding
UNFPA by withholding $34 million in family planning aid that
is used to
better the lives of women around the world. Read: Fort Pierce
Tribune A March 6 column, "Backtracking on Female Progress," by
Alicia Trider of
noted that Bush opted
not to fund
the United Nations Population Fund by withholding $34 million
in family
planning aid that would have been used to better the lives of
women
around the world. A March 5 letter by Elsie DeGarmo-Smith of Pine Plains, NY that
ran in
urged, "Women of America,
wake up! Not
only is Bush trying to get us into a war we don't want, but he
has also
declared war on the rights of American women and has made things
worse
for women worldwide who no longer have access to reproductive
health
care." It also noted that two years ago, Congress passed
a $34 million
commitment to the United Nations family planning program. One
of Bush's
first official duties was to renege on this commitment. Why?
Someone
might talk to them about birth control or abortion. Read: The
Poughkeepsie Journal A March 1 letter by Eppie Turner of Greensboro, NC that ran
in noted that on July 22, 2002, the Bush administration
announced a stunning reversal. Although Congress and the president
had
already approved $34 million for UNFPA, that aid to the international
family planning group was suddenly denied. The turn-around on
this issue
will have a disastrous effect on the lives of women and children
in 141
countries around the world.
UN WIRE reported March 7 that U.S. representatives Carolyn Maloney
and
Barbara Lee announced on March 6 the introduction of the UNFPA
Funding
Act of 2003, a bill that would authorize $50 million for this
year and
$84 million for 2004 as part of the U.S. contribution to the
U.N.
Population Fund. Read: Statement by Carolyn
Maloney and
press release by Population
Action International
The Redlands Daily Facts reported March 3 that the 34 Million
Friends
Campaign started by Jane Roberts of Redlands and Lois Abraham
of Taos,
N.M., has raised some $700,000, with more coming in daily. The
campaign
seeks to raise $34 million, one dollar at a time, from 34 million
Americans to help women and babies survive. Read: Redlands Daily
Facts A March 7 letter in by Senator Mary Henry MD
insists
that the report allows the EU to provide money for the provision
of safe
and reliable methods of family planning for the poorest and most
vulnerable women in the world, following President Bush's decision
to
veto the provision of E34 million dollars allotted by the US
Congress to
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). So many American
citizens
were enraged by his decision that UNFPA has already received
nearly $1
million dollars in private donations. "Thank you, O. Ricardo Pimentel, for your column criticizing
President
Bush's withdrawal of the $34 million funding for the U.N. Population
Fund, 'How about We Do What Bush Won't?'" wrote Shirley
Rish of Mesa, AZ
in a March 4 letter that ran in . Read: Arizona
Republic
This year's observance of the International Women's Day will
focus on
the UN's work towards empowering women in Uzbekistan and contribution
of
Uzbek women to society, reported the UzReport.com on March 7.
The
observance is jointly organized by the United Nations Development
Program, the UNDP/Government Development Support Service Program,
the
United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Population
Fund, the
UN office for Drugs and Crime, the UN Educational, Scientific
and
Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization, the Office
of the
UN High commissioner for Refugees, the World Bank and the Joint
UN
Program on HIV/AIDS. Read: UzReport.com
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