{"id":3234,"date":"2021-03-25T02:06:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T02:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=3234"},"modified":"2021-03-25T02:06:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T02:06:14","slug":"reggie-littlejohns-report-to-the-united-nations-commission-on-the-status-of-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/reggie-littlejohns-report-to-the-united-nations-commission-on-the-status-of-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Reggie Littlejohn’s Report to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Forced Abortion, Gendercide, Genocide,<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the Abandonment of Widows under<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s Two-Child Policy;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigns to Empower Rural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women and Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statement by Reggie Littlejohn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-Hosted by Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers and<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s United Nations Reporting Network<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 18, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 theme for the UNCSW is \u201cWomen’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.\u201d  This theme touches the very heart of the work of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers.   Forced abortion, sterilization and infanticide constitute extreme violence against women and girls, and run directly counter to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.  It is heartbreaking that, 26 years after the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, these atrocities continue unabated in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will speak about the continuation of forced abortion and gendercide under China\u2019s One Child Policy, now its Two Child Policy, especially against Uyghur Muslim and other ethnic minority women living in Xinjiang today.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will also speak about our campaigns to empower women and girls in rural China \u2013 Our Save a Girl Campaign, and our Save a Widow Campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China Has \u201cPrevented\u201d 400 Million Lives through the One (now Two) Child Policy; 336 million abortions, 196 Million sterilizations<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese Communist Party has boasted that it has \u201cprevented\u201d over 400 million lives.  In March 2013, it revealed it has conducted more than half a billion birth control procedures, including 336 million abortions and 196 million sterilizations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One statistic the CCP never discloses is how many of these abortions were forced.  Of these 336 million abortions, how many women were dragged out of their homes, strapped to tables and forced to abort babies that they want, up to the ninth month of pregnancy?  How many women died as a result of these violent procedures?  And of these 336 million abortions, how many were selectively aborted because they were girls?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another statistic the CCP never discloses is how many of the 196 million sterilizations were forced?  In April of 2010, in Puning City, Guangdong Province, family planning officials set out to sterilize 9,559 people.  Those who refused were detained, along with their family members.  According to credible reports, the CCP is forcibly sterilizing Uyghur women in Xinjiang to this day.  Forced sterilization is a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such large statistics boggle the mind and mask the hundreds of millions of individual broken lives caused by this brutal Policy, such as Feng Jianmei, who was forcibly aborted at seven months in June 2012.  In February 2013 she gave an interview in which she said that her family was still being harassed by authorities.  She had to relocate 600 miles from her family to get away from the painful memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forced abortion and involuntary sterilization are violence against women.  Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers calls upon President Xi Jinping to end this state-sponsored crime against humanity.  China will not be free until the women of China are free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016 Revealed China\u2019s Annual Abortion Statistic is not 13 but 23 Million<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the 2015 State Department China Human Rights Country Report, released in 2016, the estimated number of abortions in China has increased from 13 to 23 million a year.  In the past, the Chinese government reported 13 million abortions a year.  The 2015 State Department Report noted that according to official Chinese sources, \u201cThe number of abortions performed is believed to be higher,\u201d because the statistics in the past were collected only from registered medical institutions and did not include abortions at unregistered clinics.  The State Department Report states that an \u201cofficial [Chinese] news media outlet\u201d has reported that \u201cat least an additional 10 million chemically induced abortions were performed in non-governmental facilities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding abortions at official and unofficial facilities results in 23 million abortions a year.  23 million abortions a year comes to 63,013 abortions a day, 2625 abortions an hour, 43 per minute.  The United States population is about 320 million, with about 1 million abortions per year.  The population of China is almost 1.4 billion, with about 23 million abortions per year.  Therefore China, with four times the population of the United States, has 23 times the number of abortions.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the State Department Report, the Chinese government did not provide a statistic on how many of these abortions were forced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forced Abortion Continues Under China\u2019s Two-Child Policy<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016 began with the deceptive announcement by the Chinese Communist Party that it had \u201cabandoned\u201d or \u201cscrapped\u201d the One Child Policy.  This language is misleading, as it gives the impression that forced abortion and coercive population control have ended in China.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  To the contrary, both forced abortion of unmarried women and of third children continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 Congressional-Executive Commission on China Report<\/a> released in January, 2021, states that under the Two-Child Policy, \u201cChinese authorities continued to threaten or impose punishments, including heavy fines, job termination, and abortion, on families for illegal pregnancies and births.\u201d  Moreover, \u201cDuring the 2020 reporting year, central government authorities continued to reject calls to end birth restrictions, despite population experts voicing demographic, economic, and human rights concerns over China\u2019s population control policies.\u201d  CECC Report, Population Control section, p. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abuses committed by the CCP in furtherance of coercive population control \u201cviolate standards set forth in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 1994 Programme of Action of the Cairo International Conference on Population Development.\u201d  CECC Report, Population Control section, p. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CECC Report explains that, although national family planning law prohibits officials from abrogating the \u201clegitimate rights and interests\u201d of citizens when enforcing family planning law, in fact, some provincial and local family planning regulations \u201ccontinued to explicitly instruct officials to carry out abortions \u2013 often referred to as \u2018remedial measures,\u2019 (bujiu cuoshi)<\/em> \u2013 for unsanctioned pregnancies.\u201d  CECC Report, Population Control section, p. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Radio Free Asia Report<\/a> stated: \u201cAccording to a June 8 report published on the official Xinjiang Web news site, an average of 8 million \u2018extra\u2019 pregnancies are aborted in China each year.\u201d  The term, \u201cextra pregnancy\u201d is a euphemism for an \u201cillegal pregnancy.\u201d  Therefore, there are 8 million forced abortions in China each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who refuse to abort can suffer catastrophic financial consequences.  For example, in 2019, when a Guangdong couple was pregnant with their third child, local population control officials pressured the wife 14 times to terminate the pregnancy.  When she refused to abort, the couple was fined US $22,000, and both husband and wife were fired from their jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another incident, a couple, surnamed Zhong, in August of 2017 were forced to choose between an abortion at eight months<\/a> or the loss of both of their government jobs.   In a separate incident, He Liping was forced either to pay an impossible \u201cterror fine\u201d of $39,000 or face abortion at six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A May 4, 2016, BBC article<\/a> entitled \u2018Reinventing China\u2019s Abortion Police,\u2019 discusses a small collaborative project by Stanford University and Shaanxi Normal University to repurpose 69 Family Planning Officials — apparently on the assumption that they are no longer needed now that China has moved to a two-child policy.  In this article, a Chinese Communist Party official unwittingly admits that coercive population control continues in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article follows a Family Planning Official, Li Bo, who has been \u201creinvented\u201d from \u201chunt[ing] down families suspected of violating the country\u2019s draconian rules on how many children couples can have\u201d into a rubber duckie squeezing, nursery rhyme singing \u201cChinese Father Christmas,\u201d complete with \u201ca bag full of toys and picture books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has his job really been \u201creinvented,\u201d or is he really a member of the womb police,<\/strong> masquerading as \u201cChinese Father Christmas\u201d — the new face of China\u2019s Family Planning Police?  Buried deep in the article is the following account of the dark side of Li Bo\u2019s job \u2013 an important piece of original reporting by the BBC:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2016, all Chinese couples have been allowed two children.  But they can have no more than that unless they are from ethnic minorities \u2013 so Li Bo still spends some of his time working as a birth-control enforcer.  In the town\u2019s health clinic he is busy screening local women.  All women of childbearing age have check-ups four times a year to ensure they\u2019re healthy . . . and to see if they are pregnant. . . But Li is also a loyal Communist party official who believes the state knows best and society\u2019s needs are greater than those of individuals.  So he is matter-of-fact about the unpleasant task of telling women who couldn\u2019t afford the fine to terminate their pregnancies.  \u201cPeople didn\u2019t swear at us but they probably did behind our backs,\u201d he says.  \u201cIt\u2019s natural because we were carrying out the law and they were breaking it so it is just like the clash between a policeman and a thief.\u201d  He adds that as long as restrictions are in place, such clashes will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From these words, uttered by a Chinese Communist Family Planning Official, we learn that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Coercive pregnancy screening continues.<\/strong>  Under the Two-Child Policy, Family Planning Police continue to screen women of child-bearing age for illegal pregnancy four times a year. 

    <\/li>
  2. Forced abortion continues.<\/strong>  It is still illegal for single women to have babies in China, and for couples to have third children.  It appears that some may be given an opportunity to pay a fine, but Li Bo tells \u201cthose who couldn\u2019t afford the fine to terminate their pregnancies.\u201d  In other words, if a woman is illegally pregnant and cannot pay the fine \u2013 which can be as much as ten times her annual salary \u2013 she is forced to abort.  Forced abortion, therefore, continues under the Two-Child Policy. 

    <\/li>
  3. Women pregnant without permission are considered criminals.<\/strong>  Li Bo\u2019s statement that women who are pregnant without permission \u201cwere breaking \u2026 [the law] so it is just like the clash between a policeman and a thief\u201d demonstrates that such pregnancies are still considered illegal; and illegally pregnant women are regarded lawbreakers deserving of punishment, just like thieves. 

    <\/li>
  4. Forced abortion continues to cause unrest.<\/strong>  Li Bo is correct in adding that \u201cas long as restrictions are in place, such clashes will continue.\u201d  This statement is an admission that these clashes \u2013 often resulting in forced abortion \u2013 continue to this day, due to the two-child restrictions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In a triumph of investigative journalism, on October 28, 2016, the BBC has released a Report, \u201cChina\u2019s forbidden babies still an issue<\/a>,\u201d confirming that under the Two-Child Policy, forced abortion remains a threat for women pregnant with a third child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this Report, John Sudworth<\/a>, the BBC\u2019s Beijing Correspondent, interviews the father of a family in hiding because his wife has just given birth to their third child.  The Report describes the man as \u201canxious and on edge, but still determined to tell his story.\u201d  The father told the BBC, \u201cA third baby is not allowed, so we are renting a home away from our village.  The local government carries out pregnancy examinations every three months.  If we weren\u2019t in hiding, they would have forced us to have an abortion.\u201d  <\/strong>(Emphasis added.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The family was able to escape forced abortion by going into hiding, but when they come out, they will face a fine that could be as large as ten times their annual salary.  \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money for the fine.   We just don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d the father told the BBC.  He does not, however, regret his decision.  \u201cWhen I look at our new baby, I feel happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sudworth aimed to discover what the policy shift from one to two children per couple means in practice.  \u201cAnd what we have discovered,\u201d he concludes, \u201csuggests that the brutal machinery of enforcement is still in place along with the Chinese state\u2019s insistence on the right of control over women\u2019s wombs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This powerful report confirms what I have been saying all along:  the new two-child policy will not end forced abortion.  As blind activist Chen Guangcheng succinctly tweeted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This [new two-child policy] is nothing to be happy about. First the\u00a0#CCP<\/a>\u00a0would kill any baby after one. Now they will kill any baby after two.\u00a0 #ChinaOneChildPolicy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Under the Two-Child Policy, a woman\u2019s body remains in the domain of the State.  The entire infrastructure of coercion remains in force, with forced pregnancy examinations every three to six months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sudworth\u2019s colleague then called several family planning centers and spoke to officials at random.  She pretended to be pregnant with her third child and asked how she might keep it.  All the officials stated that she would have to pay a fine.  Such fines can reach ten times a person\u2019s annual income.  Inability to pay such fines has led many women to abort a child they would otherwise keep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Beyond this, some of the officials went further, \u201cengaging in coercive home visits with the aim of \u2018persuading\u2019 women to have abortions,\u201d according to the BBC Report. One official told Sudworth\u2019s colleague, \u201cIf you\u2019re reported to us, then we\u2019ll find you and we\u2019ll persuade you not to give birth to that baby.\u201d   Another official said, \u201cWe\u2019ll definitely find you and persuade you to do an abortion.\u201d  When asked if a woman could have a third child and then pay the fine, a third official stated, \u201cNo.  You just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The official\u2019s statement, \u2018If you\u2019re reported to us . . .\u2019 indicates that the system of informants remains under the two-child policy.   \u2018Illegally pregnant\u2019 women have been reported to family planning police by their neighbors, co-workers, supervisors and people in their villages who are paid just to watch women to see if anyone looks pregnant.  The official\u2019s statement, \u2018If you\u2019re reported to us . . .\u2019 indicates that this Orwellian system of informants remains in place under the two-child policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The statement by the officials, \u2018. . . we\u2019ll definitely find you and persuade you to do an abortion\u2019 indicates that the Chinese government continues to conduct search and destroy missions, searching for \u2018illegally pregnant\u2019 women to destroy their desperately wanted babies.  This happened to Feng Jianmei<\/a> and Wujian<\/a>, both of whom were dragged out of hiding and forcibly aborted.  And what does the word \u2018persuade\u2019 mean here?  Does it mean forcing a woman to ink her fingerprint<\/a> on a consent document, like they did to Feng Jianmei<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I applaud the brilliant investigative journalism of John Sudworth and his colleague, and the courage of the BBC to publish his Report.  It is extremely difficult to find people willing to speak to the western media about the continuation of forced abortion in China, because of harsh retaliation of the Chinese government against them personally and their families.  The story of this courageous couple in hiding deserves to be told the world over.  This is investigative reporting at its best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Forced Abortion, Sterilization, Infanticide and Systematic Rape in Xinjiang<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Several bombshell reports have been released in recent months, interviewing escapees from Xinjiang, including from the prison camps.  They tell harrowing stories of forced abortion, involuntary sterilization, infanticide, and systemic rape carried out at the hands of the CCP.  Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Gulnar Omirzakh is the impoverished wife of a detained vegetable trader.  After the birth of their third child, the Chinese government ordered her to get an IUD.  She complied.  Nevertheless, two years later, four military officials came to her door and gave her three days to pay a fine of $2,685 for having more than two children.  If she could not pay, she would join her husband and a million others, locked in internment camps for having \u201ctoo many children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cGod bequeaths children on you.  To prevent people from having children is wrong,\u201d said Omirzakh, an ethnic minority Kazakh.  \u201cThey [the Chinese Communist government] want to destroy us as a people,\u201d she stated, according to a compelling, investigative report by the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Chinese Communist Party regards Omirzakh and people who share her views as religious extremists.  CCP-backed scholars have identified \u201cas a key obstacle [to the CCP\u2019s goals in Xinjiang] the religious belief that \u2018the fetus is a gift from God,\u2019\u201d according to the AP Report. The CCP locks up these religious believers, mostly Muslim, in internment camps, where they will receive political and religious re-education, in an attempt \u201cto purge them of their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe state [Chinese government] regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forced intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands,\u201d the AP Report continues.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Hundreds of thousands might be an understatement, because there are 15 million Turkic minorities in Xinjiang,” said German researcher Adrian Zenz, according to an ABC News analysis<\/a>.  Zenz released his own, heavily documented investigative report<\/a> this week, published by the Jamestown Foundation think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the same time as it is forcibly aborting, sterilizing and detaining the Uyghur and Kazakh population, the CCP is encouraging births among the Han Chinese, including Han Chinese who have settled in Xinjiang.  This practice may amount to \u201cHan settler colonialism\u201d or even cultural and ethnic genocide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to some of the ex-detainees interviewed by the AP:<\/p>\n\n\n\n