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Committee pressures government on one-child policy following SPUC submission
Westminster, 8 March 2002--A parliamentary committee has called for coercive population control to become a key part of Britain's human rights dialogue with China, following a submission by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).In its response to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human
Rights Annual Report 2001, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs
Committee said: "[In the] Report the Government sets out ten objectives
of a high-level critical dialogue on human rights issues between China
and the United Kingdom and its EU partners, objectives with which we
agree. There is, however, one omission. We suggest that the human
rights abuses which have occurred as a result of China's population
control programme (footnote to SPUC submission)--"coercive fertility
control", as described by the Secretary of State for International
Development--should also appear as a matter to be addressed in this list
of objectives, and should be mentioned in future Human Rights Annual
Reports."
Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's political spokesman, commented: "We are very pleased at this recognition that working against China's policy of state-mandated forced abortions should be a priority for our relations with China. The committee's reference in its recommendation to SPUC's submission is proof that pro-life political lobbying is vital to securing real increases in respect for the human rights of the unborn and their mothers."
