UN Agency Scolded for Interfering in UN Negotiations

NEW YORK, September 27 (C-FAM) Bangladeshi Diplomats and Ministers have charged a UN agency with meddling in their affairs and rigging an international conference. The UN ambassador from Bangladesh lashed out against the agency’s controversial actions to the press.

The agency in question is the controversial United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It has come under fire in the past because it helped set up and implement coercive population control programs in several countries.

UNFPA instructed Bangladesh’s delegation on how to vote and what to say at a recently concluded conference in Bangkok, according to the Dhaka Tribune. The newspaper reported delegates felt “awkward” because UNFPA paid for the delegation’s expenses and placed a representative of a non-governmental organization on the delegation to pressure them. The reports came from delegation members and other insiders.

The document from the conference is being touted as “groundbreaking” for declaring sexual and reproductive rights “indispensable” to sustainable development and a “key part” of the post-2015 development agenda. These terms are controversial because abortion activists and some within the UN system say they include abortion.

The reports cast a shadow over the outcome of the conference attended by 500 delegates, ministers and officials from 47 countries. It suggests some delegates were surrogates for UNFPA and did not represent the sovereign will of their respective countries.  (more...)

UN Agency Scolded for Interfering in UN Negotiations