Witholding UN funds

Here's an opportunity for UN reform: the US could act like a moral leader.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said today the United States' decision to withhold $34 million for purported abortion-related reasons was especially regrettable when leaders at the World Summit now meeting at UN Headquarters in New York were stressing the need to act together on global concerns.

"The funds are urgently needed for effective multilateral work in developing countries to prevent maternal and child deaths, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, provide voluntary contraception and to support the work to end poverty," UNFPA said noting that the withheld money could prevent as many as 2 million unwanted pregnancies and 4,700 maternal deaths in developing countries.

The United States is the only country to ever deny funding to UNFPA for non-budgetary reasons in the agency's entire 36 years of operation.

The Administration's stated reason for withholding funds appropriated by Congress for the fourth straight year is simply incorrect, as an assessment team sent to China by the Administration itself found no evidence that UNFPA supports coercive abortions or sterilization, the Fund stressed.

To the contrary, the team reported that UNFPA had registered its strong opposition to such practices. Other independent teams, from the British Parliament and a multi-faith panel of religious leaders, reached the same conclusion, some adding that UNFPA was a force for good, promoting positive change.