Foundation pours $$$ into population control
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, whose assets of more than $3 billion rank it as the sixth largest U.S. foundation — Ford with more than $2 billion is first — in 1994 bankrolled 72 population control projects throughout the world and 25 individual “emerging leaders in the population field” with grants totaling $12,545,050.
The MacArthur Foundation was especially active in its funding and promotion of the United Nations Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in September 1994. Before that conference, the Foundation (1) “convened a meeting of officers front other foundations [with] Nafis Sadik, head of the [Cairo] conference, to discuss planning for the [ICPD],” (2) supported an “international strategic planning session [for Cairo] in Brazil for representatives of women’s organizations from more than 80 countries,” (3) “supported several of the alternative news organizations [which reported] the views of ‘grassroots groups’ that participated in the Cairo conference,” (4) provided funding for “a series of public service announcements … which focused on women’s [issues] … population and the environment … telecast on CNN International and other networks worldwide,” (5) funded a group that “organize[d] Mexican women … involved in health activities, in preparation for the [ICPD] (6) supported a U.S. “public education campaign about the [ICPD],” (7) funded the “plan[ning] and coordina[tion] for the [NGO] conference held concurrent with the [ICPD],” and (8) supported a radio series [in the United States] examining population and development issues.”
Exclusive of items 1 and 2, in 1994 the MacArthur Foundation spent a minimum of $310,000 on the other six Cairo-related activities. This support was in addition to 1993 funding of over $750,000 given to 13 “organizations preparing for the 1994 [ICPD meeting].
“Isn’t it amazing how “grassroots” support for population control just happens to spring up everywhere? (MacArthur Foundation Annual Reports— 1994, pp. 134—5, 137, 138, 148; 1993, pp. 153, 155, 158, 164-5.)
UN Population Fund Expects Record Income
Based on announcements made by various countries at a “pledging conference” held in early November by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), that organization estimated that its 1996 income will reach a record U.S. $325 million. The projected contributions represent a 6 percent increase over the Funds’ 1995 income of just over $300 million.
UNFPA officials credited the funding increase, which comes amid decreasing contributions earmarked for overseas development assistance, to widespread support for the goals of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Among the ICPD goals was a financial target of $17 billion by the year 2000, increasing to $21.7 billion by 2015, to implement the Conference’s population control Program of Action.
Currently, some $5.6 billion is being spent on population programs, of which the world’s nations are contributing about $1.3 billion. [The remaining $4.3 billion is coming in part from major U.S. foundations such as MacArthur (above), Ford, Rockefeller, Packard, etc., the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the World Bank (see below), and a host of private population control groups, the majority of which are based in the United States.]
A total of 55 countries announced pledges for UNFPA at the Pledging Conference held at the United Nations 1 and 2 November. Major donors which announced increases in their contributions include Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland. Other countries pledging to increase their contributions included Benin, Chile, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation, Tunisia and Vietnam. [Given that some of these countries are in the midst of more or less severe economic crises — Benin, Romania, Russian Federation and Vietnam, for instance — it is curious that they would not address their own internal problems before dumping even more monies into UNFPA’s pot.]
Bankrolling Population Control
The World Bank’s recently released 1995 Annual Report disclosed that the Bank “in the past two fiscal years … has lent almost $1 billion in support of population [control] and reproductive health objectives .” (p. 18, italics added).
Although few of the population projects were separately listed, and those that were came under the catch-all category of “population, health, and nutrition,” an idea of some of the Bank’s activities in this area may be gleaned from the following loans funded in fiscal 1995:
- Benin – $27.8 million for improvement of “priority health services” and the expansion of “fami1y-planning services” (p. 114).
- Burundi – $21.3 million for rehabilitation of health services and the strengthening of “family-planning activities” (p. 115).
- Cameroon – $43 million for “expansion of primary health care” and “imp1ementation of a national population policy” (p. 115).
- Chad – $20.4 million to “he1p the government implement its population, family planning, and AIDS-control policies” (p. 115).
- Pakistan – $65.1 million for the support of “entire national population program, which [wil1] increase dramatically the coverage and quality of family-planning services” (p. 116).
- Philippines – $18 million to “improve the health status of women – those of reproductive age, in particular – … thereby reducing fertility .… “ (p. 116).
Readers will note how skillfully the Bank has married population control schemes to health services, following the lead of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and USAID.
