Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Senator Norris will have his chance in a short time. He declared in 2002, on the basis of a state department investigation, that the US was suspending its funding of the UNFPA because of its involvement in the Chinese one-child policy. He specifically referred to the UNFPA's assistance in administering the "social compensation fees" which the Chinese Government impose on women who have more than the regulation number of children. Where are the activists for women's rights now? This penalty can be up to three years worth of income, which is a crushing amount.

If the House is still not happy with the examples I have given, consider the Peruvian situation where its leader, Alberto Fujimori, ran that country like a personal fiefdom for nearly a decade before he was turfed out in elections in 2000. What emerged after his departure from office was a series of sandals, the most serious of which involved the forcible sterilisation of women in poor rural villages. Government officials, who were given monetary rewards for each woman sterilised, used carrot and stick techniques to cajole, trick or force them. When the Peruvian parliamentary commission examined the issue it discovered that the UNFPA was central to these activities, together with the US foreign aid agency, USAID.

We need to address issues of maternal mortality as a fundamental issue in the promotion of human dignity. We have to look hard again at whether UNFPA as an organisation can be trusted to honour our constitutional values which are about showing love and care to women and men, born and unborn. We need to give the money but, perhaps, we need to consider giving it to non-government organisations which can be trusted, such as Mater Care, an organisation which seeks to assist women and children in pregnancy.