-Caveat Lector-
------- Forwarded message follows -------
To: "AlasBabylon"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Adam Whaley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date sent: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 13:11:04 -0000
Subject: [AlasBabylon] U.N. Complicit in Forced
Sterilizations
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[ Double-click this line for list subscription options ]
U.N. Complicit in Forced Sterilizations
There is compelling evidence that the United Nations
collaborated in the forced sterilization of poor,
rural women in Peru from 1995 to 1997. But mud from
the scandal is clinging only to the United States.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73780,00.html
U.N. Complicit in Forced Sterilizations
Monday, December 23, 2002
By Wendy McElroy
There is compelling evidence that the United Nations
collaborated in the forced sterilization of poor,
rural women in Peru from 1995 to 1997. But mud from
the scandal is clinging only to the United States.
As the U.N. continues to pose as the conscience and
watchdog of the globe, the U.S. is being battered for
taking the proper position: namely, reducing its role
in global family planning ventures.
The controversy revolves around Peru's National
Program for Family Planning, which received funding
from both the United Nations Population Fund and U.S.
Agency for International Development. The Program
included a campaign entitled Voluntary Surgical
Contraception -- that is, sterilization. An estimated
100,000 to 300,000 people, mostly women, were
sterilized.
Some Peruvian health workers reportedly received
bonuses ranging variously from $4 to $12 U.S. for each
woman they "persuaded" to have a tubal ligation.
Doctors and hospitals were pressured to meet
sterilization quotas. It's not surprising that reports
and testimonials of forced sterilizations abound.
Felipa Cusi went to a rural clinic because she was
suffering from symptoms of the flu. After being
anesthetized, she was sterilized without her
knowledge. Some women died as a result of such
surgery. Magna Morales was kidnapped by health workers
and sterilized at a makeshift clinic. Without
follow-up medical care, she died 10 days later.
On Jan. 11, 1998, the Miami Herald introduced Magna
Morales' story to its readership and accused the
Peruvian government, then under President Alberto
Fujimori, of forced sterilizations. In February, both
the New York Times and the Washington Post ran
articles repeating the charges.
That same month, Grover Joseph Rees, Staff Director of
the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights, released a
personal account of his visit to Peru. Rees confirmed
the presence of forced sterilization.
His report recommended that the U.S. discontinue
funding to Peru's family planning programs and
disassociate itself from them. Rees went so far as to
caution against expressing support of a billboard
campaign that encouraged Peruvians to have small
families. He worried that such support could be
misconstrued as an endorsement of sterilization
policies.
In short, although the U.S. must assume responsibility
for funding Peru's policies, it also deserves credit
for investigating the travesty and for trying to act
responsibly. To his shame, Clinton continued to fund
the UNFPA despite the stories of forced sterilization
coming out of Peru and of forced abortions emerging
from China.
Unlike the U.S., the U.N. has displayed no decency and
assumed no responsibility. A July 26 press release
captures the agency's response. It denies all charges
and claims that the allegations are "being
disseminated through the media by PRI [Population
Research Institute], a fringe group that engages in a
campaign against UNFPA in pursuit of its ideological
opposition to family planning."
It is difficult to dismiss Hector Chavez Chuchon in a
similarly ad hominem manner. The Peruvian
parliamentarian and medical doctor told a subcommittee
investigating the forced sterilizations, "The United
Nations was aware of this policy; [U.N.] personnel
worked in the health ministry."
In a June 2002 report entitled "Anticoncepcion
Quirurgica Voluntaria" the Peruvian Congress added
that, in the early 1990s, "[Fujimori's] National
Population Program established demographic strategies
and methods explicitly restrictive and controlling; in
this line, the United Nations Population Fund, known
for its support of population control in developing
countries, took charge. For that end, the United
Nations Population Fund act[ed] as Technical
Secretary, working in coordination with the National
Population Council."
The report concludes that the "UNFPA increased their
support and even participation in the task during the
government of the ex-president Alberto Fujimori,
especially in the period 1995-2000."
Abubakar Dungus, a spokesperson for the UNFPA,
contends that the U.N. did not "learn" of the
involuntary sterilization until "late 1997" even
though reports of the abuse had been circulating in
international and human rights circles long before.
Upon hearing of the agonized testimony of brutalized
women, the U.N. allegedly expressed "concern" to the
Peruvian Ministry of Health. Unlike the U.S., it
conducted no public investigation.
The Bush administration is both politically and
morally correct in backing away from the UNFPA and its
hypocritical, corrupt policies. Yet Bush is being
excoriated for recently withholding $34 million
dollars from the agency. The proximate cause was the
administration's concern over U.N. complicity in
China's one-child policy, under which women have been
forced to abort. Now other nations are coming forward
with tales of atrocities committed with the U.N.'s
complicity.
At international conferences, the U.S. is being
blasted for its reluctance to spill the blood of women
in the name of reproductive health. A recent
conference of Pacific-Asian nations bashed the U.S.
for refusing to agree to finance their reproductive
goals. A new report declared, "the text of the action
[reproduction/family] plan due to come out of the
Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference revealed
the wide gulf between this region's governments and
Washington: More than 40 countries except for the
United States had agreed to endorse the plan."
Those "more than 40 countries" are wrong. They are
pursuing the sort of bureaucratic control over women's
bodies that led to the death of Magna Morales, who was
as much as murdered because she wanted to have
children.
America must not participate in the family planning of
other nations.
Wendy McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com and a
research fellow for The Independent Institute in
Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of many
books and articles, including the new book, Liberty
for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century
(Ivan R. Dee/Independent Institute, 2002). She lives
with her husband in Canada.
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.431 / Virus Database: 242 - Release Date: 17/12/02
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
------- End of forwarded message -------
--
Outgoing mail is certified virus free
Scanned by Norton AntiVirus
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
