§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) when he last raised the issue of coercive population control in China with his Chinese counterpart; and with what results; [168174]
(2) if he will make a statement on the practice of coercive population control by the Chinese authorities on the people of Tibet. [168179]
§ Hilary Benn[holding answer 23 April 2004]The UK Government have made it clear to the Chinese Government that we believe their family planning policies should be based on the principles of the International Conference on Population and Development; that is on the principle of informed choice, voluntarism, and consent and not coercion. In May 2002, the then Secretary of State for International Development raised the issues of coercive family planning programmes with her counterpart, and the Chinese authorities gave assurances that China was working towards relaxing the one-child policy. At that time Tibetans, as ethnic minorities, were allowed two children (rather than one) in urban areas, and there was legally no limit to the number of children herdsmen could have, although in practice many localities limited them to three.
1069WThe new population law of September 2002 reduced birth targets and respects the reproductive rights of couples to freely and responsibly choose the spacing and number of their children. However, it maintained financial incentives for small family size.
DFID funds the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is working to promote policy change within China towards meeting international standards, including the removal of social compensation fees. DFID funds are used to support independent monitoring and evaluation of the impact of UNFPA's work.