Press Release
UNFPA Governing Body Approves New Country Programme for China
30 January 2006
UNITED NATIONS, New York—The Executive Board of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, last week approved the sixth UNFPA programme of assistance to China, totalling $27 million over five years.
As they did so, Board members and other United Nations countries praised UNFPA as a "force for good" that promotes and protects human rights, implicitly repudiating a claim that the Fund abets coercive practices.
Ten European countries that provide most of UNFPA’s funding said that the agency’s support to China has played “a crucial and catalytic role. … It successfully demonstrates that a client-oriented quality of care approach to reproductive health and family planning is a viable alternative to a target-driven administrative system.”
In a statement on their behalf by the United Kingdom, the countries declared: “unequivocally…in our view, UNFPA’s activities in China, as in the rest of the world, are in strict conformity with the unanimously adopted Programme of Action of the ICPD, and play a key role in supporting our common endeavour, the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The United Kingdom was also speaking for Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. Many other countries also spoke on UNFPA programmes.
The 10 European countries aligned themselves with the statement by South Africa on behalf of the Group of 77—a coalition of 132 developing countries and territories—which also strongly endorsed UNFPA’s work in China.
“In geographical areas where UNFPA is working, the client-centered service not only provided choices to many ordinary people, particularly women, but also improved the reproductive health situation in these areas,” the Group of 77 stated. “The programme has contributed to the improvement of reproductive health and family planning services, strengthened the capacity of family planning workers and has enhanced the access of women to quality services and informed choices.”
The Fund will continue to give priority in 2006-2010 to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention, concentrating its assistance in 30 Chinese counties that have experimented with ways to improve services and give clients control over reproductive decisions. During the last country programme, China adopted national standards that incorporate approaches used in the UNFPA counties, including the removal of birth targets and quotas.
After UNFPA-supported counties lifted birth-spacing requirements, four provinces followed suit. Others are considering similar moves. (See news feature: “Easing Family Planning Rules Leads to Fewer Abortions and More Baby Girls, Chinese Province Finds”.) UNFPA will continue to strongly advocate for a rights-based approach and an end to coercion.
An independent assessment at the end of the fifth country programme (2003-2005) found that women in UNFPA-assisted counties had gained greater access to a variety of contraceptive methods and experienced a sharp drop in abortion rates. They also knew more about ways of preventing HIV transmission and recognized the danger signs of high-risk pregnancy. In project counties in poor, western China, hospital deliveries—a critical factor in ensuring safe motherhood—increased from 74 per cent to 91 per cent of all deliveries.
The sixth country programme will also support the development of policies to address population ageing and gender-related concerns, including the imbalance in the country’s sex ratio at birth.
At last week’s first regular session for 2006, the 36-member UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board also approved new country programmes for Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Peru, Swaziland, Türkiye, Uganda, Ukraine and Viet Nam.
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The United Nations Population Fund is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.
Contact Information:
Beijing: Siri Tellier, +86-10-6532-5723, tellier@unfpa.org
Bangkok: William A. Ryan, +66 9 897 6984, ryanw@unfpa.org
New York: Abubakar Dungus, + 1 646-226-6120, dungus@unfpa.org
