When President George W. Bush cut out Americas yearly 34-million US dollar donation to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the worlds poorest countries stepped in to fill the gaping wound.
Afghanistan sent a crisp one hundred dollar bill. The Democratic Republic of Congo scraped together 1.000 US dollar. The Palestinian Authority and Somalia, who had never before donated, also sent small, but significant, donations.
– For these small countries, it was a lot, said Dr. Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA executive director. The US withdrew its contribution because of unproven allegations that the family planning agency is complicit in forced abortions in China.
The U.S. money was intended for safe motherhood services, contraceptives and HIV prevention services to women in the worlds poorest countries.
Last December, in what was seen as a saucy, but significant gesture, International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll increased Canadas contributions to the fund to almost 17 million US dollar a year from 13 million dollar a year. She made the announcement while Mr. Bush was on his first visit to Canada.
– Canada has really helped us a lot, Ms. Obaid said, urging cabinet ministers and activists to keep pressure on the U.S. – I look forward to the day when the U.S. becomes a contributing member again, she said.
In 2001, before the U.S. cut funds, the UNFPA had only 92 donors. Ms. Obaid said in an interview that 166 countries now contribute to the agency.
While some of the increase is a reaction against the Bush administration, others cite the efforts of the hard-driving Ms. Obaid, who is the first Saudi head of a UN agency and a significant role model for womens rights in many developing countries. Not all Saudis were pleased by her appointment.
– When I got the job, a fundamentalist website kind of abused me a lot. But friends of my father in Saudi Arabia said, “Oh, that is what he was trying to do in 1951”.
Ms. Obaid was seven then, the eldest in what would be a family of eight, and her father wanted her to go to school. However, there were no schools for girls so he sent her to a boarding school in Egypt.
When it was time for her to go to university, women were not allowed to attend university in Saudi Arabia. Her father petitioned the then-Prince Faisal and asked him to allow the 17-year-old girl to go to university in the U.S.
The prince agreed and she became the first Saudi woman to receive a government scholarship to study at a university in the U.S. She also received her masters and PhD there.
As a young mother in Lebanon, where she lived for a time, Ms. Obaid started the first daycare in her city. She has two daughters, one an architect, the other a doctor. Both were raised to be proud Arabs and Muslims.
Ms. Obaid always knew she would devote her life to womens rights.
She said that while she is heartened by the increase in donors and funds, there is much to do. The issues addressed by the UNFPA, such as HIV/AIDS, are far more serious than anyone could have ever imagined.
In 1995, eight million women were infected with HIV/AIDS. Now, there are 17,6 million. She also said that millions of women do not have access to the family planning they need, women are being raped in war and as a means of torture, and maternal mortality rates are still high.
She said that the HIV/AIDS and reproductive rights activists must learn to work together on these issues. Until now, the groups have been split, and this has caused a duplication of services.
She also criticized the pro-abstinence policies of the U.S. that tie foreign aid to programs promoting abstinence.
– AIDS has a young married womans face. Abstaining from sex with their husbands is not an option for them. They need contraceptive services, she stressed.
This week at the UN, Ms. Obaid will head a 10-year review of the Beijing Platform of Action, a broad-based agenda for advancing womens human rights worldwide.
Gerry Barr, President of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, said Ms. Obaids visit to Canada was crucial because it forced the government to look at its “abysmally inadequate” international aid and consider how it can honour its international commitments.
In 1969, Canada agreed to allocate 0,7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) to international aid. In 36 years, it has never come close. Mr. Barr said that Canadas contribution is now at 0,28 per cent of GNI.
Mr. Barr said that when Prime Minister Paul Martin returned from his recent Asian trip he said that too many people lived on one dollar a day and that he did not want to leave this problem to his children and eventual grandchildren.
– Well, he is well on his way to leaving this problem to his children, Mr. Barr concluded.
Kilde: The Push Journal
