Alice in the Wonderland of the UN

A perfect illustration of this ethos was a news item in USA Today (18/3/14) headed "Socially responsible condoms set for sale".

I hadn't realised there were socially irresponsible condoms, but Jeffrey Hollender co-founder of "Seventh Generation" a personal care brand for consumers concerned about the environment and social justice, together with his daughter Meika, has launched a brand of condoms named "Sustain". They decided on this project because surveys showed that the average age of first sexual intercourse in the USA was seventeen. The Hollenders have found a rubber plantation in India "that was certified for fair trade and by the Forest Stewardship Council".

USA Today reports that "one of Sustain's biggest competitors will be Sir Richard's Condom Co. based in Colorado, which claims to be "chemical free and vegan certified". Next thing they will all be applying for Halal accreditation..... but there appears to be no suggestion that maybe it is not a great idea for unmarried 17-year-olds to be having sex with multiple partners, even with a socially responsible condom.

One of the main speakers at Endeavour Forum's NGO "Parallel Event" entitled "Violence Against Pregnant Women" was Reggie Littlejohn of "Women's Rights Without Frontiers". She said: "While many women in the United States and internationally suffer from domestic violence while pregnant, only in China are women dragged out of their homes and forcibly aborted and sterilized by their government. China's One Child Policy causes more violence against pregnant women than any other official policy on earth and any other official policy in the history of the world. Forced abortion is official government rape.

"China has not abandoned its One Child Policy: Reports abound that China has 'eased' the policy, giving the false impression that China has abandoned coercive family planning. It has not. Rather, China has merely lifted the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child. This is not a wholesale 'easing' of the One Child Policy. It is a minor adjustment.

"As recently as March 6, 2014, Li Bin, minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, stated, 'The basic family planning principle has not changed as the country is still the world's most populous'. She also stated that there is 'no timetable for allowing every couple to have a second child.'

"Regardless of the number of children allowed, women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables and forced to abort babies that they want, even up to the ninth month of pregnancy.

Pro-choice and pro-life advocates can agree: no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

"Women's Rights Without Frontiers calls for an investigation of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The UN's CSW should follow its own advice to 'condemn and take action to prevent violence against women' . . . by thoroughly investigating the activities of the UNFPA in China. Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell found the UNFPA to be complicit in coercive family planning in China. WRWF believes that any independent investigation of the UNFPA's current practices would arrive at the same conclusion."

Most Australians are blissfully unaware that our government has funded UNFPA with $38.5 million over four years (2009 -2013), and that we yearly fund delegations to attend the Alice-in-Wonderland sessions of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women. There surely are better uses for our taxes.