Agreement on a Plan of Action at the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference in Bangkok, which closes on December 17th, is reported to have stalled after delegates from the United States insisted that references to maternal death during unsafe abortion, and the use of condoms for HIV prevention, be removed.
All of the other 60 countries which sent delegates to the conference, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, are reported to have signed up to the Plan of Action. Diplomats from Asia and Europe were reportedly disappointed at the US position, with one delegate reported as saying he was “stunned and amazed.”
The US version of the draft Plan of Action proposes deleting references to the health risks to women of unsafely performed abortions, and the mention of “consistent condom use” to prevent HIV. The US has said its position is “flexible,” but its negotiators are refusing to yield on these points.
However, the move is strongly opposed by Asian politicians. The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development, meeting in parallel to the Population Conference, pledged to counter US moves, and Europeam parliamentarians expressed astonishment at the US bid to "to impose its ideological position upon the rest of the countries in the region and obstruct progress and debate on an issue of such critical importance as population and development in the Asia Pacific region."
Ministerial level talks aimed at finding a breakthrough resume tomorrow.
In July, the Bush administration refused to authorise US$34 million of funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), the decision based on a campaign by anti-abortion lobbying groups in the USA, who allege that by working in China, the UNFPA is supporting coercive programmes of population control, including forced abortions, a claim vigorously rebutted by the UNPF.
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