UN's Left-Wing Mission

The Indian ocean tsunami killed over 150,000. So, how's the UN helping? According to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) press release:

The Fund has been working with partners from the start to assess immediate needs, supply life-saving medicines and supplies to enable pregnant women to deliver safely, and reestablish emergency obstetric care and other urgent health services. The Fund has also provided hygiene kits – including soap, washcloths and sanitary napkins – for tens of thousands of women and their families, many of whom lost everything but the clothes on their backs. UNFPA has already made $3 million available for immediate response in all affected countries, as well as additional funds for medicines, equipment and supplies.

The new donor appeal, part of a UN-wide Flash Appeal launched Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, is to help UNFPA and partners – including government ministries, local NGOs, and sister humanitarian agencies – meet extraordinary needs of women and youth in the three worst-hit countries over the next six months. Activities covered by the $28 million will include:

• Providing and distributing equipment, medicines and supplies to ensure safe childbirth and emergency obstetric care, as well as prevention of HIV transmission;



• Reestablishing maternal health services, including reconstruction of facilities, in areas where medical infrastructure and services have been devastated;



• Psycho-social support to tsunami survivors, including women who have become heads of household as a result of the disaster;



• Preventing and treating cases of violence against women and youth through community outreach programmes and medical and psycho-social support;



• Promoting the access of unaccompanied women and other vulnerable populations to basic services including water, sanitation, food, health and protection;



• Providing and distributing sanitary supplies; and



• Supporting youth through education programmes and drop-in centers.

This seems a bit odd, to say the least. What, exactly, is "Psyco-social support?" Do tsunamis cause wife beating?--or is it the other way around? What, exactly, is youth education? ("Don't surf, son; run.") Tampons are mentioned twice.

Is this just bureaucratic gibberish? In part--UNFPA is a one-trick pony devoted to birth control and abortion. The agency is repeatedly exceeds its mission. Beginning in 1985, US law (22 U.S.C. Section 2151b(f)) requires the President to withhold or reduce UNFPA-earmarked funding should that agency coerce sterilization or abortions. That provision (and a China-specific clause at 22 U.S.C. Section 6901(12)) kicked in when UNFPA helped the Chinese coerce abortions; the agency also has been accused of funding involuntary sterilization in Peru. So the "touchy-feely" text deliberately buries the lede.

Fortunately, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute broke the code--it's all about sex:

In its January 6 press release, the latest and most explicit to date, UNFPA has requested $28 million in donations for, among other things, "the reestablishment of basic reproductive health services" in Indonesia, the re-establishment of "reproductive health services," purchases of "reproductive health commodities" and promotion of "adolescent reproductive health" in the Maldives, and to meet "urgent reproductive health needs" and "restore" and raise awareness of "emergency reproductive health services" in Sri Lanka.

According to UNFPA's "Reproductive Health in Emergency Situations" manual, the "reproductive health needs" of refugees include "guaranteeing the availability of free condoms." Indeed, UNFPA's website says that "Free condoms are among the first reproductive health supplies to reach people caught in a crisis situation...UNFPA provides both male and female condoms in emergencies."

The manual also describes the "reproductive health kits" developed by UNFPA for "the initial acute phase of the emergency," which include "condoms," "oral and injectable contraceptives" including the abortifacient morning-after pills, and "IUD[s]." The kits also contain manual vacuum aspirators, portable abortion devices that are easily used in primitive conditions such as refugee areas.

The supplies in the kits are "stored by UNFPA in preparation for immediate distribution when an earthquake, flood...or other crisis arises." Thus, UNFPA is able to "mount a quick response to emergencies, especially in the initial stages [and] can ship out supplies of condoms and other commodities within a few days."

Perhaps I was wrong: the UN is devoting resources to assisting tsunami victims. After this horrific natural disaster, causing widespread death and destruction, UNFPA sprints to the scene--with rubbers. With more than 150,000 dead, UNFPA's targeting conception and birth.

When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

(via The Corner)