{"id":1254,"date":"2013-08-01T19:57:28","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T19:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2019-03-28T02:15:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T02:15:46","slug":"wrwf-lodges-complaint-at-united-nations-against-forced-abortion-and-gendercide-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wrwf-lodges-complaint-at-united-nations-against-forced-abortion-and-gendercide-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"WRWF Lodges Complaint at United Nations Against Forced Abortion and Gendercide in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers today lodged the following “Complaint Concerning Coercive Population Control” with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women:
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To the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I am the founder and president of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, a non-profit, non-partisan international coalition to combat forced abortion, gendercide and sexual slavery in China. I write to complain about coercive family planning in China.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As you know, WRWF has submitted Complaints for the past two years. While the UNCSW acknowledged receipt of these Complaints, China has never responded to them. We believe that, given the international outrage generated by forced abortion and gendercide in China, it behooves China to respond to our official Complaints. <\/span><\/p>\n

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UNCSW\u2019s \u201cAgreed Conclusions\u201d Condemn Coercive Family Planning

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The UNCSW\u2019s topic for this year was \u201cElimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls.\u201d There is no greater violence against women than forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. As demonstrated in the cases set forth below, the women themselves sometimes die as a result of these violent procedures. There is no greater violence against girls than gendercide, which has claimed up to 200 million lives of girls selected for abortion solely because they are girls. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers was honored to make four presentations about forced abortion and gendercide in China at the UNCSW in March of this year. At three of them, we screened the \u201cIt\u2019s a Girl\u201d film, the authoritative documentary about gendercide in India and China. While WRWF does not support all the \u201cAgreed Conclusions\u201d that came out of the UNCSW 2013, we do commend the following language: <\/span><\/p>\n

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34. The Commission urges government, at all levels, and as appropriate, with the relevant entities of the United Nations system, international and regional organizations . . . to take the following actions:<\/span><\/p>\n

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(aaa) Condemn and take action to prevent violence against women and girls in health-care settings, including . . . forced medical procedures, or those conducted without informed consent, and which may be irreversible, such as forced hysterectomy, forced caesarean section, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced use of contraceptives . . .[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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These Agreed Conclusions represent the acknowledgement that forced medical procedures are a form of violence against women and call for an international condemnation of such procedures. WRWF feels that the voices of hundreds of millions of suffering Chinese women and girls were heard by the UNCSW, and for this we are grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At the same time, these Agreed Conclusions are but the first step to end this form of gender violence. While the Agreed Conclusions condemn coercive family planning in the form of forced medical procedures, they take no stand on gendercide, the sex-selective abortion, abandonment and fatal neglect of baby girls. If the UNCSW stands for women\u2019s rights, it must take a stand against the selective abortion of up to 200 million baby girls.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Chinese government, moreover, is the major perpetrator in the world of \u201cforced medical procedures\u201d of the kind set forth in the UNCSW Agreed Conclusions. The UNCSW should put teeth into its Agreed Conclusions by presenting this Complaint to the Chinese government and requiring a response. <\/span><\/p>\n

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WRWF Calls for an Investigation of UNFPA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The UNCSW, moreover, should follow its own advice to \u201ccondemn and take action to prevent violence against women . . .\u201d by thoroughly investigating the activities of the UNFPA in China. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell found the UNFPA to be complicit with coercive family planning in China. WRWF believes that any independent investigation of the UNFPA\u2019s current practices would arrive at the same conclusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The UNCSW would not be the first to undertake such an investigation. In a striking blow against China\u2019s One Child Policy, the European Parliament passed a resolution strongly condemning forced abortion and involuntary sterilization in China and globally, citing Feng Jianmei, who was forcibly aborted at seven months in June, 2012. <\/span>Specifically, the resolution, 2012\/2712 (RSP) \u201c<\/span>strongly condemns the decision to force Ms. Feng to have an abortion and condemns the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations globally, especially in the context of the one<\/span>–<\/span>child policy.\u201d The resolution further states that \u201c<\/span>the EU has provided, and still provides, funds for organizations involved in family planning policies in China,\u201d and \u201curges the Commission to ensure that its funding of projects does not breach\u201d the European Parliament\u2019s commitment against coercive population control. <\/span><\/p>\n

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I<\/span>t is significant that the European Parliament has acknowledged that it provides funding for family planning in China and has urged the Commission to ensure that this funding is not associated with coercion.\u00a0 For decades, the UNFPA has worked hand in hand with the Chinese population control machine, which is coercive.\u00a0 We have no doubt that any unbiased investigation by the European Parliament, the United Nations, or any other governmental body will reveal that UNFPA is complicit with coercive family planning in China. The UNCSW should likewise undertake such an investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It is China\u2019s war on women. Any discussion of women\u2019s rights, or human rights, would be a charade if forced abortion in China is not front and center. It does not matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue. No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice. <\/strong>Here is a video in which former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, strongly condemns coercive family planning in China. http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=hillary_clinton<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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This violence became increasingly evident in the past year, giving rise to both international and domestic criticism of the One Child Policy. We had hoped that when President Xi Jinping succeeded former President Hu Jintao, we would see reform of violent family planning practices. Unfortunately, such has not been the case. <\/span><\/p>\n

To the contrary, just this year there has been much suffering caused by the One Child Policy.\u00a0 We are aware that the cases that make it to the West are just the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 For every family that posts their experience of heartbreak on the internet, there are thousands or millions that suffer silently. Every month has brought a fresh atrocity:<\/span><\/p>\n