SPUC welcomes US exposure of one child policy crimes

Westminster, 1 April 2003--The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has welcomed a US State Department report which details the latest evidence of China's brutal one-child policy.

The 2002 report on Human Rights Practices in China released yesterday states that China's "imposition of a birth limitation policy coercive in nature that resulted in instances of forced abortion and forced sterilization" equals "violence against women". The report also revealed that the policy is enforced by a massive 83 million population control officials, and confirmed that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was complicit in coercive enforcement of population control in China.

SPUC political spokesman Anthony Ozimic commented: "The evidence in this report demonstrates that not only has UNFPA and the British government failed to reform the one-child policy, but that Chinese government organs funded by UNFPA and the British government are consolidating this system of gross violations of human rights. UNFPA has funded both the State Family Planning Commission (SFPC) and the China Family Planning Association (CFPA), which is the local branch of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Britain and the EU funds both UNFPA and IPPF and supports their complicity in Chinese population control.

"The report confirms that the one-child policy violates women's bodily integrity by forcing women to have IUDs inserted and subjecting them to compulsory quarterly tests to ensure that these abortifacient devices remain in place. The policy is sexist, because couples are allowed to have more than one child if their first child is a girl but not a boy, and only then in some rural areas. And the policy is racist, because ethnic minorities are under pressure to limit births to the same number as the majority ethnic group", said Mr. Ozimic.

Mr Ozimic continued: "The report also confirms that "it continue[s] to be illegal in almost all provinces [in China] for a single woman to bear a child", that "unplanned pregnancies must be aborted immediately" and that penalties for non-compliance include "the destruction of property.

"Collaboration with China's population programme and with bodies which support it such as UNFPA constitutes complicity in crimes against humanity. European governments must follow the United States' lead in withdrawing funding for UNFPA if they wish to avoid being prosecuted for such crimes", concluded Mr. Ozimic.