U.S. accused of isolating pop. agency
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| Mon, 06-21-2004 - 12:09pm |
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/178777_unagency21.html
U.S. accused of isolating population agency
Groups that work with U.N. unit told they may lose funds
Monday, June 21, 2004
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, which cut off its share of financing two years ago to the U.N. agency handling population control, is seeking to isolate the agency from groups that work with it in China and elsewhere, U.N. officials and diplomats say.
Pressed by opponents of abortion, the administration withdrew its support from a major international conference on health issues this month and has privately warned other groups, like UNICEF, that address health issues that their financing could be jeopardized if they insist on working with the agency, the U.N. Population Fund.
The administration also has indicated that it hopes to persuade the United Nations' Latin American caucus to back away from a common position on population and development that was adopted in Santiago, Chile, in March on the grounds that the document's discussion of reproductive rights could be interpreted as promoting abortion.
The actions are part of an administration effort to ensure that international agencies and private groups do not promote abortions overseas. In its first days in office, the Bush administration reintroduced the Reagan-era measure that critics call the "global gag rule," which denies money to groups that even discuss abortion as an option, except in cases that threaten life or involve rape or incest.
The Population Fund, known as UNFPA, has long been a favorite target of abortion opponents in Congress and in religious-based organizations, who contend that it assists in coercive abortions in China. The critics prevented American financing of the fund for most of the last two decades, and they have now set their sights on curbing its operations with other U.N. agencies.(me: IF true, China is just one situation - and a unique one at that considering their population concerns to begin with. So, don't fund China...)
The administration's position has frustrated some U.N. officials and family planning advocates, who complain that advances in education and awareness on reproductive issues are being undermined by the United States. Those critics, most of whom spoke anonymously because the U.S. government is the leading contributor to their agencies, charged that the administration was pandering to conservative supporters, and said that doing so placed the United States in alliance with tradition-bound Islamic countries and the Holy See. Last year, the State Department cut financing to Marie Stopes International, a British charity involved in AIDS programs, because it worked with the Population Fund in China.
In a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday, four Democratic members of Congress demanded a legal explanation for withholding money from the fund and for the "threatened defunding of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund."
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., at the fore of efforts to restore support to the fund, said the administration was jeopardizing programs in women's and family health that should not be considered contentious.
"When will the president's right wing be satisfied -- when they close down the U.N.?" she asked.(me: While I'm sure that this administration and it's supporters would LOVE that...they will be content when they have they are able to force the rest of the world to bow to their particular beliefs. Heck, even the majority in our own country support freedom of choice.)
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~mark~
So the US is divided over the position of abortion and birth control; the fanatics are now trying to divide the world. This is a power play, my religion is correct; yours is wrong, and you are going to abide by my religion because I have more power thany you.