§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the amount of funding support given to the Chinese Family Planning Association by the Chinese Government. [32016]
§ Mr. HanleyWe have asked the International Planned Parenthood Federation whether it can obtain this information. Any information received will he placed in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on whether the UNFPA has changed its view on whether the Chinese population control programme is totally voluntary. [32014]
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§ Mr. HanleyThe United Nations Population Fund does not claim that the ways in which the Chinese family planning programmes are implemented are always voluntary. UNFPA has continuously voiced its concern to the Government of China over reports of coercion.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the prevalence of articles encouraging coercive population control in Chinese newspapers in the 1990s. [32010]
§ Mr. HanleyWe are not able to monitor all press publications in China. However, we understand that the press generally reflects official policy on population issues.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the sums given by the UNFPA to the construction of factories in China for the manufacture of intra-uterine devices; how many factories have been built; when they were completed; how many IUDs are manufactured each year; if such IUDs are inserted coercively; and if China now imports IUDs. [32018]
§ Mr. HanleyThe United Nations Population Fund has assisted in the upgrading of five copper IUD manufacturing facilities at a cost of approximately $7 million. China has at least one other such facility. We do not have information on the completion dates of these facilities, or the number of IUDs currently being manufactured in, or imported to, China. We have received reports that IUDs have sometimes been inserted coercively, and we totally condemn such practices.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the training given by the UNFPA for Chinese population control officials; and if such training is offered to officials from the national, state and prefectural levels of Chinese government; what computer hardware and software is provided by the UNFPA to(a) the Chinese State Family Planning Commission and (b) prefectural level population control offices; what systems this equipment was designed to run and to what use the equipment is now being put; and what information he has on the training offered by the UNFPA in the use of IT for population control purposes. [32006]
§ Mr. HanleyThe United Nations Population Fund's recent training has focused on interpersonal counselling and informed consent practices for family planning and health workers at local level.
UNFPA supplied computers for both the 1982 and 1990 censuses, and it has supplied computers to 22 Chinese universities for teaching population science. The computers that were provided for censuses are now used for inter-census surveys and research.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on any statements made by the IPPF or UNFPA which specifically condemn the use of coercion in population control in China. [32012]
§ Mr. HanleyBoth the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation make it clear in their policies and statements that they strongly oppose the use of coercion in population and416W reproductive health programmes. Neither organisation issues public statements criticising the population policies of any individual country. However, both have expressed their concern, in written and oral communications with the Chinese authorities, about reported incidents of coercion. We believe that both the UNFPA and IPPF are capable of making the right judgments about how best they can help towards improving population and reproductive health policies in individual countries.
§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the role played by the Chinese State Family Planning Commission in the drafting and dissemination of coercive family planning regulations to Chinese states since 1979, in organising coercive population control initiatives, and in the initiation and implementation of the responsibility system and the veto with one vote system in which cadres are judged by their results in keeping to the one child policy. [32008]
§ Mr. HanleyWe understand that the State Family Planning Commission has overall responsibility for policy on family planning, and that provincial people's congresses, municipalities and autonomous regions are responsible for establishing their own regulations relating to family size. Responsibility for programme implementation rests with provincial family planning commissions. We have no authoritative information on the "responsibility system".