Free Republic

IT IS high time men came out of their cocoon shells and report all cases of harassment perpetrated on them by their partners. There has been a steady increase of men who have been taking their lives following harassment and violence by their partners. The unfortunate development comes against a campaign by some civic organisations that indicate 99 percent of women are survivors of gender based violence in this country. These statistics are however as of 1996. It is however apparent that the situations could have changed as reports on violence against men continue to be highlighted in the Press....

...on condoms, that is.Thoraya Obaid, director of the United Nations Population Fund, told Reuters on the sidelines of an aid conference:"There has been a beginning of an opening, especially on HIV/AIDS and the use of condoms for prevention of infection," . "We are hoping the new pope will take this message further, because it makes no sense sending people to their death." "We hope that all positions would focus on what is really needed to fight ... HIV and take the morally correct decision on how to do that," Obaid said.Commentary. Well well well. What is this "sending people to...

Abortion Politics at the United Nations By Joseph A. D'Agostino NEW YORK CITY--Abortion politics pops up everywhere. All this week at United Nations headquarters, the UN Commission on Population and Development is meeting to discuss strategy in combating HIV/AIDS. As one speaker at the conference put it, AIDS has afflicted so many people in some developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, that "HIV/AIDS is no longer only a public health issue, but a population and economic development issue as well." With HIV adult infection rates at 10%, 20%, or even over 30% in some sub-Saharan African countries, the AIDS epidemic...

A UN women's conference approved an American-drafted resolution on economic equality that the United States ended up opposing because of an amendment on "reproductive rights". "This amendment is not acceptable to the United States," said US delegate Ellen Sauerbrey on the final day of the two-week meeting. "We worked very hard during the course of negotiations to arrive at language that was broad and was acceptable to most delegations." After Cuba successfully amended the resolution with a reference to a possible negative impact on women from globalisation, Ms Sauerbrey offered to withdraw the text. But the 45-member Commission on the...

Another U.S. Withdrawal at the United Nations? Leaders to Bush Admin.: U.S. Must Reaffirm Historic Women's Human Rights Agreement 2/25/2005 12:15:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Nancy Bennett, 800-834-1110, or Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri, 202-326-8720 WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Leaders from human rights and women's development organizations are sounding the alarm about the possible U.S. withdrawal from a historic women's human rights agreement currently under review at the United Nations. Governments are gathering in New York City over the next two weeks to revisit women's progress since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women met in Beijing in...

BARRIE, ON, February 3, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian International Cooperation Minister Aileen Carroll is a Roman Catholic. She has let it be known publicly that she will be voting for the government's gay 'marriage' legislation which all Canadian Catholic bishops have opposed. Moreover, Ms. Carroll is the Minister who, during U.S. President Bush's recent visit to Canada, embarrassed many Canadians by announcing that Canada would boost its funding of the UNFPA , the UN population control arm. Prior to this, an investigation by the US Department of Justice had found UNFPA was still complicit in China's coercive abortion program. The...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The issue of abortion could tie up a bill intended to fund relief efforts for victims of the tsunami and earthquake in Southeast Asia. Noting that there are an estimated 150,000 pregnant women living in the numerous areas affected by the tsunami who need medical care and attention, abortion advocates claim the UNFPA is the only agency that can help them. Pro-abortion New York Democratic congressmen Steve Israel and Joseph Crowley want the United States to use taxpayer funds to support the United Nations outfit. "Fifty thousand of those women will give birth in three months,...

U.N. Offers 'Reproductive' Aid to Tsunami Victims by Stuart Shepard, correspondent What kind of aid is headed for Southeast Asia? The United Nations has some strange ideas on what those affected need. What kind of help does Southeast Asia need to recover from the tidal wave that swamped the region and killed tens of thousands? It's likely your list won't include condoms and portable abortion devices—but that's part of the aid being sent by the United Nations. The United Nations Population Fund, known as UNFPA, has requested $28 million for tsunami assistance, part of which will go toward what it...

As donations from around the world pour into Asia to provide food, water, and medical supplies in the wake of the tsunami disaster, the United Nations is rushing condoms and other "necessities" to the victims. "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," boasts the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA). According to Austin Ruse of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, the United Nations Population Fund is requesting $28 million for "the reestablishment of basic reproductive health services." This will be accomplished...

NEW YORK, January 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United Nations Population Fund, the UNFPA, is calling for US $28 million in donations to re-establish "reproductive health services," in the Tsunami-stricken regions of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, according to a UNFPA press release published Thursday. The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute Friday Fax further clarified that "According to UNFPA's Reproductive Health in Emergency Situations manual, the 'reproductive health needs' of refugees include 'guaranteeing the availability of free condoms.' Indeed," the C-FAM Friday Fax continues, "UNFPA's website says that 'Free condoms are among the first reproductive health supplies to...

UNFPA Elusive About Abortion Aid for Tsunami Victims The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) describes itself as the "largest international public sector supplier of contraceptives, condoms and other reproductive health essentials," and states that such supplies are "critical to protecting reproductive health in emergency situations." Yet in press releases on its tsunami relief activities, UNFPA steers clear of directly stating that it provides contraceptives or abortion aids. UNFPA may be responding to past public criticism after disclosures that it was providing such supplies. In its January 6 press release, the latest and most explicit to date, UNFPA has requested $28 million...

Tsunami Aid Lands for Survivors and Unborn Babies Sat Jan 1, 2005 09:40 AM ET By Michael Perry BANGKOK (Reuters) - A multinational force of aid workers, military aircraft and ships descended on Asia as global tsunami relief pledges topped $1.85 billion, but the hundreds of tons of aid created a logistical nightmare. The hardest part still proved to be getting aid from clogged airports out to areas rendered barely accessible by the destruction of roads, phones, boats and harbors -- but some aid was finally getting through Saturday, six days on. With airports under strain, Australian military transports had...

Perhaps frustrated, together with France and Kofi Annan, with its inability to influence American foreign policy, Canada’s government decided to increase sharply its annual contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The official announcement of the increase just happened to coincide with President George W. Bush’s visit to America’s small northern neighbor. Canada has chosen to ignore the evidence of China’s coercive population control program and UNFPA’s assistance to it — or perhaps she doesn’t care. This Tuesday, December 14, the House International Relations Committee under the guidance of Rep. Chris Smith (R — NJ) will hear new testimony...

WASHINGTON, November 25, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Congress allocated its perfunctory annual $34 million contribution to the United Nations Family Planning Fund (UNFPA) -- President Bush is expected, however, to countermand the contribution, as he has done for the previous four years. US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, corroborated evidence unearthed by the Population Research Institute, that the UNFPA actively participated in China's implementation of its one-child policy, including coerced abortion. The UNFPA's involvement in coerced abortion makes any US contribution to their work illegal, based on the Kemp-Kasten law, which prohibits contributions to any agency that "supports or participates in...

Why is Bush getting the bishop's blessing? Thursday, October 14, 2004 NEWARK'S ARCHBISHOP John Myers wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal last month on why Catholics cannot in good conscience vote for a pro-choice candidate. It was titled "A Voter's Guide."Myers wrote that abortion and research that destroys human embryos are evil and that no other issue outweighs that evil in this presidential race: not the death penalty, poverty, or the war in Iraq.The archbishop did not name names, but his message is clear: Catholics can't vote for John Kerry. Since Catholics make up one-quarter of the...

Bush Once Again Blocks US Funds to Pro-Abortion UNFPA WASHINGTON, October 4, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For the fourth consecutive year of his presidency, U.S. President George W. Bush has refused the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, its designated annual US government contribution. The $25 million normally earmarked for the organization was diverted by the president into a State Department initiative against human trafficking and prostitution. The UNFPA support for coerced abortion contravenes a U.S. law that prohibeted any funding of abortion supporting organizations. The UNFPA has been actively supporting, through funding and training, China's one-child policy, which involves forced abortion....

Dear readers: Having received this newsletter, I felt it was appropriate to correct the misconceptions about the UN therein. I write not to incite but simply to educate. We are fortunate to live in a country where people are free to share their views and to discuss them. Having interned at the UN, studied at the UN in Geneva Switzerland, having worked with a leading, global, non-governmental maternal and child health organization and having traveled extensively through and lived in the "developing world", I must categorically refute the insinuation that the UN promotes abortion. I am referring to the statement:...

Vatican Officials Say Pro-abortion Efforts Violate International Pacts ROME, SEPT. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican official appealed to governments to remind them of their duty to denounce U.N. agencies that go against international agreements by promoting abortion. The appeal by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was supported by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N. offices in Geneva. It took place after the presentation Wednesday of a report of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). Against numerous studies that point to a worrying "demographic winter," the UNFPA report continues to...

BOSTON -- Sen. John Kerry's sister assured a rally of feminist Democrats here yesterday that her brother will name several pro-choice justices to the Supreme Court if elected president.     "There are three things my brother is going to do when he's elected president," Peggy Kerry told a Boston event held yesterday at the Harvard Club by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Feminist Majority.     Mr. Kerry will restore $34 billion to the United Nation's population fund for family planning, she pledged, and the Democrat will make sure that "CEDAW," an international treaty to eliminate discrimination against women, is...

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration yesterday announced it will withhold a $34 million payment from the United Nations Population Fund to China over the issue of forced abortions. The Communist government of China maintains, at least in some areas of the country, a one-child policy sometimes enforced through a policy of forced abortions. It is believed China performs some 10 million involuntary abortions a year. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. is the world's largest donor to health programs for women and children, to the tune of $1.8 billion this year, of which over $400 million is for...