Vikas Didwania: Leave no child behind, even across the globe

On July 11, 2004, World Population Day passed without much publicity or fanfare. This year's anniversary was particularly poignant as it marked the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt. World Population Day celebrates the successes of progress made in the implementation of the ICPD as well as shedding light on the continued need for us to be vigilant in realizing all the goals set out at ICPD.

The "Cairo Consensus," as the goals of that conference have come to be called, was a program of action agreed upon by 179 nations to promote women's reproductive rights and services necessary to reducing poverty and promoting economic development. Since that time, the United Nations Population Fund (known by its original acronym, UNFPA) has accomplished some amazing things. For example, mainly through the diligent efforts of UNFPA workers, female genital mutilation decreased by 36 percent in Uganda between 1994 and 1996. This successful drive is now being initiated in other countries, such as Mali. The UNFPA has also helped to alleviate problems of sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, maternal deaths, and infant mortality. But there is still much work to be done.

Unfortunately, in 2002 President Bush refused to deliver to the UNFPA the $34 million in funding allocated to them by Congress. He has continued to refuse all funding on grounds that UNFPA promotes abortions in countries where it works, especially in China. Besides the fact that a State Department investigation proved otherwise, the Population Fund has actually helped to drive down China's abortion rates to those below that of the United States.

More radically, on June 22, 2004, news sources leaked that members of the Bush administration had been making rounds at various agencies threatening to cut off funding if they collaborated with the UNFPA. In addition to the World Health Organization, which recently helped fight the outbreak of SARS around the world and is providing retroviral drugs to the poor inflicted by AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has always worked very closely with UNFPA to advance the living standards of women and children around the world.

UNICEF is a United Nations organization dedicated to the advancement of the rights of children, specifically those set out in the international Convention on the Rights of the Child - to which the United States is a signatory. As UNICEF's Web site describes itself, "We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress. UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind -- to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child's path." With an extremely successful track record, most recently in vaccinating 2 million vulnerable children in Sudan against measles, UNICEF is an agency admired by those in the public and private sector.

For those generally more critical of UN organizations, it should be pointed out that actual field work constitutes over 90 percent of UNICEF's expenses. In any case, UNICEF and the UNFPA have always worked closely to promote the health of women and children. In Rwanda, for example, the two funds spearheaded a program of emergency assistance for national maternal and child health after the occurrence of the genocide. Since one of the major goals of UNICEF, namely to promote girls' education, aligns with the mission of the UNFPA, the two have built a close relationship in the past decade.

The Bush administration's recent tactics will only work to undermine the efforts of UNICEF. It will certainly have the immediate chilling effect of slowing UNICEF's progress in preventing abuses of girls and assisting girls in obtaining a proper education. It is conceivable, if unlikely, that the Bush administration could carry out its threats and completely revoke funding for UNICEF.

The United States is the single largest donor to the fund and its refusal will seriously affect the work UNICEF does, which from vaccinating and feeding children who previously had little hope of survival to supporting them in achieving their dreams is of no small consequence. The actions of the Bush administration would be devastating to a large percentage of children internationally.

Actions based on ideologies and politics, rather than factual evidence, are symptomatic of this administration. Recent news headlines concerning an array of issues can attest to such a conclusion. The issue that generally has not made the headlines is the administration's push to undermine the UNFPA, and correspondingly UNICEF, through fallacious allegations.

UNICEF, however, will fight for its abilities to do its job. In anticipation of continued threats such as the recent ones, groups like Penn-for-UNICEF will simply need to become more effective at raising money and awareness in support of children around the world. And we can only do that with your help. I only ask that you become informed, involved, and impassioned.

After all, as President Bush himself once stated, "Children are a precious gift and a source of great hope for our future." I hope none of us ever forgets that.

Vikas Didwania is a junior business and public policy, finance, and political science major from Bourbonnais, Ill. He is the Co-President of Penn-for-UNICEF.

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