Sir, - Many people will have been shocked by the pictures of dying Chinese orphans on the Channel Four documentary, and may wonder what Ireland can do about it. Knowing a little about China, one should not be too surprised at the continuing flow of evidence about human rights abuses in that country. While it is not easy for any country to have a major impact on the thinking of the Chinese authorities, there is a very practical step which the Irish Government should take. That is to cease funding the activities of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The UNFPA and its allies in the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) have been funding population control activities in China for many decades. Because these activities involved coercion. such as forced abortion. the Reagan and Bush Administrations withdrew funding from the UNFPA and IPPF. Both of these organisations have continued to deny any evidence of coercion in China in relation to population control. One of the first actions of the Clinton Administration was to restore funding to the UNFPA and the IPPF. In recent years, the Irish Government have also been funding the UNFPA.
The so called "dying rooms" in Shanghai are directly related to the imposition of the one child policy on the Chinese people. This policy clashes with the age old son preference in Chinese culture, which results in high levels of female infanticide and in high mortality rates among female orphans. Because of the complete loss of credibility of the UNFPA, resulting from its association with such a brutal regime, the Irish Government should cease funding this organisation forthwith. Yours. etc,
Department of Geography.
University College, Galway.