August 1, 2015<\/p>\n
VIA EMAIL cp-csw@unwomen.org Re:\u00a0 Complaint Concerning Coercive Population Control in China<\/strong><\/p>\n To the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW):<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 I write to complain about coercive family planning in China.<\/p>\n As you know, WRWF has submitted Complaints for the past four years.\u00a0 While the UNCSW acknowledged receipt of these Complaints, China has never responded to them.\u00a0 We believe that, given the international outrage generated by forced abortion and gendercide in China, it behooves China to respond to our official Complaints.<\/p>\n The One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n It is China\u2019s war on women.\u00a0\u00a0 Any discussion of women\u2019s rights, or human rights, would be a charade if forced abortion in China is not front and center.\u00a0 It does not matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue.\u00a0 No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.\u00a0 <\/strong>A video exists in which former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, strongly condemns coercive family planning in China.[1]<\/p>\n In the past 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 proverbial tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 For every family that posts their experience of heartbreak on the internet \u2013 and thereby risks persecution by the Chinese Communist Party — there are thousands or millions who suffer silently.\u00a0\u00a0 A perusal of headlines over the past year will convey the scope of the suffering:<\/p>\n \u201cWhy gendercide is the real \u2018war on women\u2019\u201d by Reggie Littlejohn 11\/14\/14 “Chinese firm planned to punish employees who had unscheduled children.” 7\/3\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.asianews.it\/news-en\/Chinese-firm-planned-to-punish-employees-who-had-unscheduled-children-34676.html<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cXinran \u2013 China\u2019s 1CP breeds little emperors with skewed values.\u201d 5\/25\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2015-05-25\/chinas-one-child-policy-creates-ruthless-children-writer-says\/6495666<\/a><\/p>\n “Chinese Officials Forced to Meet Monthly ‘Abortion Quotas'” 6\/12\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/kathleen-brown\/chinese-officials-forced-meet-monthly-abortion-quotas<\/a><\/p>\n “Why No One Wants to Talk About China’s Female Suicide Rate” 5\/24\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/why-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-chinas-female-suicide-problem-91872\/<\/a><\/p>\n “China’s One Child Woes Being Felt Around Region” (Congressional Hearing 4\/30\/15)<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2015\/apr\/30\/chinas-one-child-population-woes-being-felt-around\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cU.N. Complicit in Worldwide War on Women\u201d 3\/21\/14<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.wnd.com\/2015\/03\/u-n-complicit-in-worldwide-war-on-women\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Ghost Children:\u00a0 In the wake of China\u2019s one-child policy, a generation is lost\u201d 3\/13\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/world\/the-ghost-children-in-the-wake-of-chinas-one-child-policy-a-generation-is-lost\/article23454402\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cActivists:\u00a0 One-Child Policy Drives Some Chinese to US \u2018Maternity Hotels\u2019\u201d 3\/4\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/content\/activists-say-china\/2668426.html<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cChinese Men Outnumber Women by 33 Million After Decades of Gender Bias\u201d 1\/22\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/gender-01222015125826.html<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cChinese Mom Has Abortion Because Her Only Child Threatened Suicide If She Had Another Baby\u201d 1\/21\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2015\/01\/21\/chinese-mom-has-abortion-because-her-only-child-threatened-suicide-if-she-had-another-baby\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBaby Girl Saved from Forced Abortion; Mom Hid from Chinese Officials for Months\u201d 11\/24\/14<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2014\/11\/24\/baby-girl-saved-from-forced-abortion-mom-hid-from-chinese-officials-for-months\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey will kill your baby in your face\u201d \u2013 Chinese Activist Chen Guangcheng 11\/4\/14 Cong. Chris Smith, Chen Guangcheng, Reggie Littlejohn Unite to Fight Forced Abortion and Gendercide in China \u2013 WRWF and Heritage Event 10\/17\/14 400 Million Lives “Prevented” through the One Child Policy, Chinese Official Says 10\/10\/14<\/p>\n http:\/\/cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/penny-starr\/400-million-lives-prevented-through-one-child-policy-chinese-official-says<\/a><\/p>\n Human Rights Activist:\u00a0 China\u2019s Regime \u2018More Dangerous\u2019 Than ISIS (exclusive interview with Chen) 10\/10\/14 Rep. Smith: Obama gave 227M to UNFPA Implementing Forced Abortion in China (includes video of Smith’s testimony) 10\/10\/15<\/p>\n http:\/\/cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/penny-starr\/rep-smith-obama-gave-227m-unfpa-implementing-forced-abortion-china<\/a><\/p>\n Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and Marco Rubio Address China’s One Child Policy 9\/29\/14<\/p>\n https:\/\/liveactionnews.org\/womens-rights-without-frontiers-and-marco-rubio-address-chinas-one-child-policy-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n U.N. Documents should reflect the fact that China\u2019s One Child Policy Causes Sexual Slavery<\/strong><\/p>\n One year ago this week, the United Nations established the annual World Day against Trafficking in Persons.\u00a0 In an official statement to commemorate this occasion, UN Women wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cTo prevent trafficking, we must address its root causes and the factors that increase individual\u2019s vulnerability to trafficking, including poverty, unemployment, poor access to education and continued gender inequality.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n Glaringly absent from this list of the \u2018root causes\u2019 of human trafficking is China\u2019s One Child Policy.\u00a0 Gendercide under the One Child Policy has created a gender imbalance in which there are 37 to 40 million more men living in China than women.\u00a0 The One Child Policy is the driving force behind human trafficking and sexual slavery within China and throughout Asia and beyond.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the United States Department of State issued its annual Trafficking in Persons (\u201cTIP\u201d) report, ranking China on the Tier 2 Watch List because it is a \u201csource, destination and transit country\u201d for trafficked persons, and because the Chinese government, \u201cdoes not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking . . .\u201d\u00a0 The TIP report heavily implicates China\u2019s One Child Policy in connection with China\u2019s rampant sexual slavery problem:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chinese government\u2019s birth limitation policy and a cultural preference for sons create a skewed sex ratio of 117 boys to 100 girls in China, which may serve to increase the demand for prostitution and for foreign women as brides for Chinese men \u2013 both of which may be procured by force or coercion.\u00a0 Women and girls are recruited through marriage brokers and transported to China, where some are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor.\u201d[3]<\/p>\n The TIP report describes the far reach of sex trafficking in China:\u00a0 \u201cWomen and children from neighboring Asian countries, including Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, and the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as well as from Africa and the Americas, are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking in China.\u201d<\/p>\n The TIP report recommends that the Chinese government \u201cinvestigate, prosecute, and impose prison sentences on government officials who facilitate or are complicit in trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n The TIP report also raises concerns about the fact that \u201cChinese authorities continued to forcibly repatriate North Korean refugees by treating them as illegal economic migrants \u2013 despite reports that many North Korean female refugees in China were trafficking victims . . . [these repatriated refugees] may face severe punishment, even death.\u201d<\/p>\n Why does the Chinese government turn a blind eye to officials who are complicit with or facilitate human trafficking and sexual slavery?\u00a0 Do they believe that sexual slavery is necessary because of the extreme gender imbalance they have created through the One Child Policy?\u00a0 Young women and girls escape the violent brutality of North Korea by slipping across the Chinese border, only to find themselves snapped up in the sex slave trade.\u00a0 These women and girls are utterly helpless.\u00a0 They can be beaten, raped and sold as prostitutes or forced brides, but there is nothing they can do about it.\u00a0 If they are able to escape from their captors and report their mistreatment to the Chinese authorities, they will be repatriated to North Korea, where they may be accused of treason and executed.\u00a0 Both China\u2019s One Child Policy, and the unique plight of North Korean refugees in China, should be front and center in any discussion of human trafficking and sexual slavery, especially by the U.N.<\/p>\n September 25, 2015 marks the 35th<\/sup> anniversary of China\u2019s brutal One Child Policy:\u00a0 Congressional Hearing\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n To commemorate this somber event, on April 30, 2015, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing entitled, \u201cPopulation Control in China:\u00a0 State-Sponsored Violence Against Women and Children. [4] Witnesses included celebrated blind activist Chen Guangcheng and notable demographer Nicholas Eberstadt.\u00a0 I also was humbled to testify, asked to comment upon \u201cChina\u2019s insistence on keeping the One-Child Policy, despite looming demographic concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n China has not \u201ceased,\u201d \u201crelaxed\u201d or \u201cabandoned\u201d the One-Child Policy, Despite Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n China periodically tweaks its One Child Policy. These minor modifications are routinely exaggerated. For example, under the misleading headline, \u201cChina to Ease One-Child Policy,\u201d Xinhua News Agency reported that China would lift the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child, beginning on January 1, 2014. It was already the case that couples could have a second child if both parents were themselves only children. This minor adjustment did not \u201cease\u201d the One Child Policy. It merely tweaked it.<\/p>\n Indeed, in apparent response to quell overly optimistic speculation that this small change represents a major reform, Xinhua ran another report soon after the original announcement: \u201cBirth Policy Changes Are No Big Deal.\u201d In this second article Xinhua states that Wang Pei’an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), told Xinhua that \u201cthe number of couples covered by the new policy is not very large across the country.\u201d[5]<\/p>\n The minor modification of the policy that took place on January 1, 2014: 1) did not affect a large percentage of couples in China; 2) was not subject to a timetable in which to implement it; 3) retained the dreaded \u201cbirth intervals\u201d between children (if a woman gets pregnant before the interval has lapsed, she risks forced abortion); and 4) makes no promise to end the coercive enforcement of the Policy.<\/p>\n Noticeably absent from the Chinese Communist party\u2019s announcement is any mention of human rights. Even though it will now allow some couples to have a second child, China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization, or forced contraception. The coercive enforcement of China\u2019s one-child policy is its core. Instituting a two-child policy in certain, limited circumstances will not end forced abortion or forced sterilization.<\/p>\n The problem with the one-child policy is not the number of children \u201callowed.\u201d Rather, it is the fact that the CCP is telling women how many children they can have and then enforcing that limit through forced abortion and forced sterilization. Even if all couples were allowed two children, there is no guarantee that the CCP will cease their appalling methods of enforcement. Regardless of the number of children allowed, women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables, and forced to abort babies that they want.<\/p>\n Further, instituting a two-child policy will not end gendercide. Indeed, areas in which two children currently are allowed are especially vulnerable to gendercide. According to the 2009 British Medical Journal study of data from the 2005 national census, in nine provinces, for \u201csecond order births\u201d where the first child is a girl, 160 boys were born for every 100 girls. In two provinces, Jiangsu and Anhui, for the second child, there were 190 boys for every hundred girls born. This study stated, \u201csex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males.\u201d<\/p>\n To say that China has \u201crelaxed\u201d or \u201ceased\u201d its One Child Policy under these circumstances is entirely unwarranted.[6]Because of this gendercide, there are an estimated 37 million Chinese men who will never marry because their future wives were terminated before they were born. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery, not only in China, but in neighboring nations as well.<\/p>\n In China, there are currently 117-118 boys born for every 100 girls born \u2013 the worst gender ratio in the world.\u00a0 Nor will the tweaking of the One Child Policy have a significant impact on gendercide.[7]\u00a0 This message was at the core of my presentation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March, 2014.[8]<\/p>\n Furthermore, all the reasons the Chinese government has given for this adjustment are economic or demographic: China\u2019s dwindling labor force, the country\u2019s growing elderly population, and the severe gender imbalance. The adjustment is a tacit acknowledgement that continuation of the one-child policy will lead to economic and demographic disaster. The policy was originally instituted for economic reasons. It is ironic that through this very policy, China has written its own economic, demographic death sentence.<\/p>\n Even if China were to completely abandon the One Child Policy and all population control now, demographers worry that it might be too little, too late to avert the demographic disaster it has caused. As one researcher stated, \u201cEven if the family- planning policy were terminated today, it would be too late to solve our rapidly ageing population, the drastic shrinkage of the labour force and the gaping hole in social-security funds that the country has already begun struggling with.\u201d[9]<\/p>\n Despite the demographic pressure to end the policy, the Chinese government recently denied that it has plans to implement a two-child policy in the near future.[10]<\/p>\n Continuing the One Child Policy makes no demographic sense. China\u2019s population problem is not that it has too many people, but too few young people and too few women. Limiting births can no longer justify the policy.<\/p>\n The One Child Policy will turn 35 on September 25, 2015. The fertility rate has fallen to approximately 1.5 children per woman, far below the replacement level of 2.1. These birth rates are dangerously low.<\/p>\n In addition, the most recent modification of the One Child Policy has failed to produce the expected number of births, as couples are self-limiting the size of their families.[11]Why, then, does the Chinese Communist Party keep the One Child Policy?<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>In my opinion, the Chinese Communist Party will never <\/em>abolish the One- Child Policy, because the government is exploiting the One Child Policy as social control, masquerading as population control.<\/strong><\/p>\n The One Child Policy was formally instituted on September 25, 1980 in response to the population explosion under the Mao era, when the average fertility was 5.9 children per woman. The One Child Policy began as a means to control the population, however brutal and misguided. The terror of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization was a by-product of the Policy.<\/p>\n Now that keeping the Policy makes no demographic sense, I believe that terror is the purpose of the Policy. Forced abortion continues in China, terrifying both women and men.[12]Some of these forced abortions have been so violent that the women themselves sometimes have died along with their full term babies.[13]\u00a0\u00a0 Forced abortion is so terrifying that victims have succumbed to mental illness and China\u2019s female suicide rate is epidemic and increasing.[14]<\/p>\n Men also are terrorized. Some have been killed or maimed for life.[15]Others have lost control and murdered family planning officials.[16]\u00a0 Some men have resorted to suicide in protest over the excessive fines imposed by the government.[17]\u00a0 The spirit of the Cultural Revolution lives on in the family planning police, who have been able to steal, intimidate, torture and kill with relative impunity.<\/p>\n The Chinese Communist Party is a brutal, totalitarian regime. It has many human rights abuses: the detention and torture of human rights lawyers, activists and journalists; religious persecution, the execution of prisoners to harvest their organs for transplant. However egregious, each of these abuses touches only a sliver of Chinese society. The One Child Policy is unique in that it touches everyone.<\/p>\n 2) The One Child Policy Is Enormously Profitable for the Chinese Communist Party.<\/strong><\/p>\n The One Child Policy\u2019s system of fees and fines is an important source of revenue for the Chinese Communist Party. These fines are arbitrary and inconsistently applied throughout China, but may be as much as ten times a person\u2019s annual salary. Very few can afford to pay these \u201cterror fines.\u201d In high profile cases, the fines may run in the millions of dollars.[18]<\/p>\n It has been estimated that the Chinese Communist Party has received as much as $314 billion in family planning fines since 1980.[19] \u00a0The use of these fines is not subject to accountability, so they may be used simply to line the pockets of the family planning officials or to fund other government projects under the table. This system (or lack thereof) provides a strong incentive to keep the Policy in place.[20]<\/p>\n 3) The One Child Policy\u2019s Infrastructure of Coercion Can Be Turned to Crush Dissent of Any Kind<\/strong><\/p>\n There is growing unrest inside China. \u201c[I]nternal Chinese law enforcement data on so- called \u201cmass incidents\u201d \u2013 a wide variety of protests ranging from sit-ins to strikes, marches and rallies, and even genuine riots \u2013 indicated that China has seen a sustained, rapid increase in those incidents from 8,700 in 1993 to nearly 60,000 in 2003, to more than 120,000 in 2008.[21]Meanwhile, there are as many as 1 million Family Planning Officials.[22]\u00a0 This army of Family Planning Officials can be turned in any direction to crush dissent of any sort. Does the Chinese Communist Party regard this army as necessary to maintain control in a tinder-box situation?<\/p>\n 4) The One Child Policy Breaks Bonds of Trust, Discouraging Dissent<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to official Family Planning Police, the One Child Policy employs a system of paid informants \u2013 \u201cwomb police.\u201d Anyone can inform on an illegally pregnant women \u2013 her neighbors, friends, co-workers, people in the village who watch women\u2019s abdomens to see who might be pregnant. On May 15, 2012, I testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, together with Mei Shunping, a victim of five forced abortions. She described the way her factory enforced the One Child Policy. \u201cIf one worker violated the rules, all would be punished. Workers monitored each other.\u201d The women became informed on one another. Predictably, friendships were destroyed.[23]<\/p>\n In addition, if an illegally pregnant women runs away to escape a forced abortion, members of her extended family may be detained and tortured.[24]This puts enormous pressure on the woman to give herself up for an abortion. The system of paid informants and the persecution of family members and neighbors rupture the natural bonds of love and trust in Chinese society. People feel that there is no one they can trust.<\/p>\n Could the Chinese Communist Party be exploiting this rupture in relationship to divide and conquer? If people cannot trust anyone, they cannot organize for democracy.<\/p>\n UNCSW\u2019s\u00a0 \u201cAgreed Conclusions\u201d Condemn Coercive Family Planning But Should Also Condemn Gendercide, The Sex-Selective Abortion or Abandonment of Baby Girls The UNCSW\u2019s topic for 2013 was \u201cElimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls.\u201d\u00a0 There is no greater violence against women than forced abortion, up to the ninth month of pregnancy.\u00a0 Women themselves sometimes die as a result of these violent procedures.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers was honored to make four presentations about forced abortion and gendercide in China at the UNCSW in March of last year.\u00a0\u00a0 We commend the following language from 2013\u2019s \u201cAgreed Conclusions\u201d:<\/p>\n 34.\u00a0 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:<\/p>\n . . . .<\/p>\n (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 . . .[25]<\/p>\n These Agreed Conclusions represent an acknowledgement that forced medical procedures are a form of violence against women and call for an international condemnation of such procedures.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n The Chinese government, moreover, is the major perpetrator in the world of\u00a0 \u201cforced medical procedures\u201d of the kind set forth in the UNCSW Agreed Conclusions.\u00a0 The UNCSW should put teeth into its Agreed Conclusions by presenting this Complaint to the Chinese government and requiring a response.<\/p>\n At the same time, these Agreed Conclusions are but the first step to end this form of gender violence.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If the UNCSW stands for women\u2019s rights, it must take a stand against the selective abortion of up to 200 million baby girls.\u00a0 Millions of baby girls all over China are at risk of abortion or abandonment, simply because they are girls.[26]<\/p>\n WRWF Calls for an Investigation of UNFPA<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 Former Secretary of State Colin Powell found the UNFPA to be complicit with coercive family planning in China.\u00a0 WRWF believes that any independent investigation of the UNFPA\u2019s current practices would arrive at the same conclusion.<\/p>\n The UNCSW would not be the first to undertake such an investigation.\u00a0 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. Specifically, the resolution, 2012\/2712 (RSP)\u00a0 \u201cstrongly 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-child policy.\u201d\u00a0 The resolution further states that \u201cthe 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.<\/p>\n It 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.\u00a0 The UNCSW should likewise undertake such an investigation.<\/p>\n We have called for an investigation of UNFPA repeatedly in the past.\u00a0 This call has been ignored.\u00a0 The time to investigate UNFPA is now.<\/p>\n Forced Abortion in China Is Linked to Breast Cancer in Women and Low Birth Weight, Increased Chance of Death in Subsequent Pregnancies.<\/strong><\/p>\n A medical study<\/a> from Tianjin, China has revealed an additional way in which women are victimized by the One-Child Policy: significantly increased risk of breast cancer.<\/p>\n Researchers in China have found that the dramatic rise in breast cancer in China is associated with the prevalence of induced abortions (IA) under the One-Child Policy. The study, conducted by a team of epidemiologists from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital, analyzed data from over 36 different studies in both the United States and China. Their conclusion:<\/p>\n \u201cIA [is] significantly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer among Chinese females, and the risk of breast cancer increases as the number of IA increases.\u201d Specifically, the study found that one IA increases a woman\u2019s risk of breast cancer by 44 percent, two by 76 percent, and three by 89 percent.<\/p>\n The study notes that historically, China has had low breast cancer rates when compared with Western nations, but \u201cthe incidence of breast cancer in China ha[s] increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades.\u201d The study notes that this rise \u201cwas paralleled to the one-child-per-family policy.\u201d<\/p>\n In our view, the strong association of abortion and breast cancer established by this study brings the women\u2019s rights violations under the One Child Policy to a new level: \u00a0a woman pregnant in China without a birth permit is subjected to both government imposed forced abortion, and also breast cancer as a result of it. Where abortion is forced, the subsequent development of breast cancer becomes a violation of women\u2019s rights in itself.<\/em>\u00a0 \u201c<\/em><\/strong>China:\u00a0 One-Child Policy Linked to Breast Cancer \u2013 Study.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1428<\/a>.\u00a0 12\/2\/13<\/p>\n Forced Abortion in China Correlates with Low Birth Weight, Increased Chance of Death in Subsequent Pregnancies<\/strong><\/p>\n A 2012 dissertation submitted to the University of Hong Kong found that children in China are more likely to face serious health complications, including death, if their mothers have had multiple induced abortions. The study concluded that having more than one abortion increases the risk of low birth weight in subsequent pregnancies. Indeed, women who have had three or more induced abortions are at five times the risk of preterm birth in a subsequent pregnancy.<\/p>\n The study, conducted by Cui Limin, explained that nearly two thirds of neonatal deaths are related to low birth weight. For children surviving infancy, LBW increases the risk of neuron-developmental problems, respiratory tract infections, and behavioral problems.[27] According to the study, those with very LBW suffer from conditions including cerebral palsy, blindness, impaired hearing and learning disabilities. Besides harming the child, these health problems put extra financial strain on parents, the study noted.<\/p>\n Women in China are forced into induced-labor abortions, up to the ninth month of pregnancy. In our view, this is a violation of women\u2019s rights of the first degree. We are now learning that these forced abortions also put their future children at risk for respiratory complications, cerebral palsy, and even death related to low birth weight. They also may damage a woman\u2019s future reproductive and general health.\u00a0This is a violation of the women\u2019s rights and the rights of their future children. \u00a0Forced abortion must be stopped, and families should be compensated if their children experience health problems caused by previous induced labor forced abortions.<\/p>\n According to the study, 14.37 million induced abortions were performed in 2012 \u2013 one quarter of the abortions in the world — many of which were repeat abortions. The study credited the One-Child Policy as \u201cone of the most important factors for the increased induced abortion rate,\u201d and cited the prevalence of forced and sex-selective abortions in China.\u201d<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chinese forced abortion policy is systematic, institutionalized violence against women.\u00a0 Because of the sheer numbers involved, it is the most massive women\u2019s rights issue in the world today, and it must be stopped. Forced abortion is official government rape.<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the Chinese Communist Party will not relinquish coercive population control because 1) it enables them to exert social control through terror; 2) it is a lucrative profit center; 3) it provides an infrastructure of coercion that can be used to crush dissent of any sort; and 4) it ruptures relationships of trust, so that people cannot organize for change. I believe that the Chinese Communist Party is maintaining its grip on power by shedding the blood of the innocent women and babies of China.<\/p>\n China\u2019s One Child Policy is the largest and most disastrous social experiment in the history of the world. Through it, the Chinese Communist Party boasts that it has \u201cprevented\u201d 400 million births. This is the hallmark of Communist regimes \u2013 the peacetime killing of their own citizens. Now China faces demographic disaster. Ironically, the Chinese Communist Party instituted the One Child Policy for economic reasons, but through it, it has written its own economic death sentence.<\/p>\n Policy Recommendations:<\/strong><\/p>\n We respectfully request that the United Nations urge the Chinese government to:<\/p>\n *Abolish the One Child Policy and all forms of coercive population control;<\/p>\n *Offer incentives for couples to have girls;[28]<\/p>\n *Offer pensions to couples who do not have a son, ensuring that parents of girls will not become impoverished in their old age; and<\/p>\n *Abolish the hukou <\/em>system, so that all children will have access to healthcare and education<\/p>\n We also ask the United nations to defund UNFPA, unless and until UNFPA stops supporting or participating in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China, in violation of the 1985 Kemp-Kasten Amendment.<\/p>\n I hope to work with you to help end this extremely serious violation of the rights of women and girls in China.\u00a0 Please feel free to contact me should you require any further information.<\/p>\n Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.<\/p>\n Very truly yours,<\/p>\n Reggie Littlejohn<\/em><\/p>\n Reggie Littlejohn, President<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers<\/p>\n www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org<\/a><\/p>\n Stop Forced Abortion \u2013 China\u2019s War on Women! Video (4 mins)<\/p>\n www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JjtuBcJUsjY<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=hillary_clinton<\/a><\/p>\n [2] UN Women statement on the occasion of the first World Day against Trafficking in Persons 7\/30\/14<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.unwomen.org\/en\/news\/stories\/2014\/7\/statement-for-world-day-against-trafficking-in-persons<\/a>;\u00a0 see also<\/em> UN Women: World Day Against Trafficking in Persons 7\/30\/2015<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.unwomen.org\/en\/news\/stories\/2015\/7\/world-day-against-trafficking<\/a><\/p>\n [3] Trafficking in Persons Report 2015<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.state.gov\/j\/tip\/rls\/tiprpt\/2015\/index.htm<\/a><\/p>\n [4] http:\/\/www.cecc.gov\/events\/hearings\/population-control-in-china-state-sponsored-violence-against-women-and-children<\/a><\/p>\n [5]\u201cBirth policy changes are no big deal.\u201d http:\/\/news.xinhuanet.com\/english\/indepth\/2013-11\/16\/c_132893477.htm<\/a>. 11\/16\/13.<\/p>\n [6]\u201cChina\u2019s One-Child Policy \u2018Reform\u2019 Won\u2019t End Abuses: US Group.\u201d http:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/policy- 07232014161119.html<\/a>. 7\/23\/14; \u201cChina Hasn\u2019t \u2018Eased\u2019 Its One-Child Policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/364200\/china- hasnt-eased-its-one-child-policy-reggie-littlejohn<\/a>. 11\/18\/13; \u201cChina Not Easing One Child Policy, Says Campaigner.\u201d http:\/\/www.zenit.org\/en\/articles\/china-not-easing-one-child-policy-says-campaigner<\/a>. 11\/22\/13; \u201cLittle Change in Practice for China\u2019s One Child Family Policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2013\/nov\/24\/little-change-in-practice-for-chinas-one-child- fam\/?page=al<\/a>l. 11\/24\/13.<\/p>\n [7]\u201cWill the end of China\u2019s One-Child Policy Shift its Boy-Girl Ratio?\u201d\u00a0 http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2013\/11\/15\/will-the-end-of-chinas-one-child-policy-shift-its-boy-girl-ratio\/<\/a>.\u00a0 11\/15\/13; \u201cOne-Child Policy is One Big Problem for China.\u201d http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/2014\/01\/24\/one-child-policy-one-big-problem-china-245118.html<\/a>.\u00a0 1\/24\/14; \u201cChina\u2019s Revised One Child Policy Still Enables Discrimination Against Girls.\u201d [8]\u201cChina 1-Child Policy Warning Taken to U.N.\u201d http:\/\/www.wnd.com\/2014\/03\/china-1-child-policy-warning-taken-to-u-n\/<\/a>.\u00a0 3\/22\/14.<\/p>\n [9]\u201cCritic of One Child Policy in from Cold.\u201d http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/1224885\/critic-one-child-policy-cold<\/a> 4\/28\/13; \u201cEasing One Child Policy May Be Too Late.\u201d http:\/\/yaleglobal.yale.edu\/content\/easing-one-child-policy-may-be-too-late<\/a>. 1\/7\/14.<\/p>\n [10]\u201cChina denies full implementation of \u2018two-child policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/china\/2015-04\/10\/content_20407560.htm<\/a>. 4\/10\/15.<\/p>\n [11]\u201cWhy China\u2019s New Family Planning Policy Hasn\u2019t Worked.\u201d http:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2015\/04\/why-chinas-new-family-planning- policy-hasnt-worked\/<\/a>. 4\/20\/15.<\/p>\n [12]\u201cChina Couple Speak of \u2018Forced Abortion.\u2019\u201d http:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/1150016\/china-couple-speak-of-forced-abortion<\/a> 10\/4\/13; \u201cFour Uyghur Women Forced to Abort Their Babies in Zinjiang.\u201d http:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/uyghur\/abortion- 12302013050902.html<\/a>; \u201cXinjiang authorities try to force six women to abort for violating one-child policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.asianews.it\/news-en\/Xinjiang-authorities-try-to-force-six-women-to-abort-for-violating-one-child-policy-29925.htm<\/a>l. 12\/30\/13<\/p>\n [13] \u201cChina: Woman Dies of Forced Abortion, Six Months Pregnant.\u201d\u00a0 http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=429<\/a> 10\/17\/11; The Case of \u201cLiu Dan \u2013 Woman Dies of Forced Abortion at Nine Months.\u201d http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=cases&nav2=liu-dan#anchor<\/a> 2\/28\/09<\/p>\n [14] China:\u00a0 Woman forced to abort at seven month says, \u201cI feel like a walking corpse.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1494<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 1\/10\/14;\u00a0 The U.S. State Department\u2019s 2012 Human Rights Report<\/a> on China stated that the rate of female suicide in China has gone up from 500 to 590 per day. The report noted that the suicide rate among China\u2019s women is three times the suicide rate among the country\u2019s men. Two of the factors cited include \u201cthe traditional preference for male children, [and] birth limitation policies.\u201d<\/p>\n [15]\u201cChina: Family Planning Official Stabs Man to Death,\u201d http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=147<\/a>. 4\/5\/11.<\/p>\n [16]\u201cCrazed Chinese father-of-four stabs two government officials to death over one child policy.\u201d .\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2376771\/Chinese-father-kills-1-child-policy-officials-registering-4th-child.html<\/a> 7\/24\/13.<\/p>\n [17]\u201cChinese father of four commits suicide over one-child policy fines so his children can go to school.\u201d http:\/\/www.lifesitenews.com\/news\/chinese-father-of-four-commits-suicide-over-one-child-policy-fines-so-his-c<\/a>. 5\/26\/14; \u201cFarmer drinks poison after being fined for violations of family planning policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/830847.shtml<\/a> 12\/8\/13<\/p>\n [18]\u201cZhang Yimou\u2019s children spark one-child policy debate.\u201d http:\/\/en.people.cn\/90782\/8236414.htm<\/a>l. 8\/8\/13. 13 \u201cThe Brutal Truth: A shocking case of forced abortion fuels resentment against China\u2019s one-child policy.\u201d<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/21557369<\/a>. 6\/23\/12.<\/p>\n [19]\u00a0\u201cHuge Fines for Violators of One-Child Policy, but Little Accounting.\u201d http:\/\/sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com\/2013\/12\/12\/huge- fines-for-violators-of-one-child-policy-but-little-accounting<\/a>\/. 12\/12\/13; \u201cPopulation Control Is Called Big Revenue Source in China.\u201d http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/09\/27\/world\/asia\/chinese-provinces-collected-billions-in-family-planning-fines-lawyer-says.htm<\/a>l. 6\/26\/13; \u201cChina has collected $3.1 billion from one-child policy violators so far this year.\u201d http:\/\/qz.com\/154079\/china-has-collected- 3-1-billion-from-one-child-policy-violators-so-far-this-year\/<\/a>. 12\/5\/13; \u201cChinese Family Planning Officials Misappropriated $260 Million in Fines.\u201d http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/n3\/293660-chinese-family-planning-officials-misappropriated-260-million-in- fines<\/a>\/. 9\/20\/13.<\/p>\n [20]\u201cThe Brutal Truth: A shocking case of forced abortion fuels resentment against China\u2019s one-child policy.\u201d http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/21557369<\/a>. 6\/23\/12.<\/p>\n [21]\u201cChina\u2019s Social Unrest Problem \u2013 Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.\u201d Murray Scott Tanner, Ph.D. http:\/\/www.uscc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/Tanner_Written%20Testimony.pdf<\/a>. 5\/15\/14; see also, <\/em>\u201cRising Protests in China.\u201d http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/photo\/2012\/02\/rising-protests-in-china\/100247\/<\/a>. 2\/17\/12.<\/p>\n [22]\u201cFamily Planning: Enforcing with a smile.\u201d http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/china\/21638131-enforcers-chinas-one-child-policy- are-trying-new-gentler-approach-enforcing-smile<\/a>. 1\/10\/15. If China\u2019s Family Planning Officials were an army, they would tie with North Korea as the sixth largest army in the world. \u201cWorld\u2019s Largest Armies.\u201d http:\/\/www.globalsecurity.org\/military\/world\/armies.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n [23]\u201cTestimony of Mei Shunping, Victim of Five Forced Abortions in China.\u201d http:\/\/archives.republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov\/112\/HHRG-112-FA16-WState-ShunpingM-20120515.pdf<\/a>. 5\/15\/12.<\/p>\n [24]Testimony of \u201cWujian,\u201d Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, 11\/10\/09. http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/index.php?nav=cases&nav2=wujian#anchor<\/a><\/p>\n [25] Agreed conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls, UNCSW 2013, pp. 5, 14.\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.un.org\/womenwatch\/daw\/csw\/csw57\/CSW57_Agreed_Conclusions_%28CSW_report_excerpt%29.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n [26]\u201cTwin Girls Saved from Abortion in China, Husband\u2019s Family Only Wanted Boys.\u201d http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2014\/05\/30\/twin-girls-saved-from-abortion-in-china-husband-family-told-wife-they-only-wanted-boys\/<\/a> 5\/30\/14<\/p>\n [27] Read the Study: The Effect of Induced Abortion on the Risk of Low Birth Weight, Cui Limin http:\/\/hub.hku.hk\/bitstream\/10722\/183648\/1\/FullText.pdf?accept=1<\/a><\/p>\n [28]We have found in our \u201cSave a Girl\u201d campaign that the encouragement of modest monetary support is enough to make the difference between life and death to a baby girl. \u201cTwin Girls Saved from Abortion in China, Husband\u2019s Family Only Wanted Boys.\u201d http:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2014\/05\/30\/twin-girls-saved-from-abortion-in-china-husband-family-told-wife-they-only-wanted-boys\/ 5\/30\/14.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" August 1, 2015 VIA EMAIL cp-csw@unwomen.org United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) CSW Communications Procedure Human Rights Section UN Women 220 East 42nd Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10017 Re:\u00a0 Complaint Concerning Coercive Population Control in … Continue reading
\nUnited Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW)
\nCSW Communications Procedure
\nHuman Rights Section
\nUN Women
\n220 East 42nd<\/sup> Street, 17th<\/sup> Floor
\nNew York, NY 10017<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2014\/11\/14\/opinion\/littlejohn-gendercide-women\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1863<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1838<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/dailysignal.com\/2014\/10\/09\/human-rights-activist-chinas-regime-dangerous-isis\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.scmp.com\/comment\/insight-opinion\/article\/1394011\/chinas-revised-one-child-policy-still-enables-discrimination<\/a>.\u00a0 12\/31\/13<\/p>\n