Fortified with a new report proving the positive role of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in China, an interfaith delegation has called on President Bush to restore financial support to the Fund.

Nine religious leaders and ethicists representing Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Protestant faiths released a report in mid-November proving that UNFPA promotes voluntary, high quality reproductive health-care in China. The report entitled “The United Nations Population Fund in China: A Catalyst for Change” was delivered to United States of America President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to refute claims made by right wing religious groups that UNFPA supports coercion in Chinese family planning.

President Bush is set to decide whether or not to restore United States funding for UNFPA and the interfaith group urged him to consider evidence they gathered during a week-long trip to China in
September. The group visited six counties and interviewed national and local family planning
officials, as well as Chinese women and men in towns and villages.

“On the basis of our meetings with Chinese family planning officials and ordinary citizens, we can say with confidence that all of the programmes with which UNFPA is currently working are commited to avoiding any practice of forced abortions or unvoluntary sterilizations” stated Ronald Green, a member of the interfaith delegation and Chair, Department of Religion, Dartmouth College.

“Will President Bush turn a deaf ear to the voices of leaders of religious and faith-based organizations who are not right wing?” asked Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice and a member of the delegation. “Or will he be fair and take our first-hand experiences in China into consideration?” Delegation members are working within their organizations and faith groups to educate the religious and ethical community about the importance of UNFPA’s work in China and to mobilize the mainstream religious community to make their views known to Messrs. Bush and Powell.

Among other findings and recommendations, the delegation emphasized that the Government of China is taking active steps to end the use of coercion in its family planning activities nationwide. It also stressed that UNFPA has been and remains a major force and a vital catalyst in achieving China’s transition to a fully voluntary and non-coercive family planning programme. According to the report, the Director of Ningxia Family Planning Commission in Yinchuan City stated: “If UNFPA were not here, progress would be slower and more painful. UNFPA is a window on the world and a catalyst for transformation. It is speeding the change process...”

Abortion and sterilization rates are declining as contraceptive choice increases, stresses the report, which also highlights that, chiefly for economic reasons, the desire for small families is
becoming the norm in China.

The report recommended that United States funding for UNFPA be restored and, if possible, increased. It suggested that American policy toward the China family planning programme become constructive, yet it recommended that monitoring of the Chinese family planning programme be continued.