UNFPA Executive Director Attacks Critics as Lying “Fringe Groups”

By C-FAM Staff

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM) At times defensive, at times defiant, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Obaid admitted at this week's UNFPA Executive Board meeting in New York City that recent criticisms leveled against the population control agency have damaged its reputation and hindered its work. Obaid cites what she calls a "handful of fringe groups," including, presumably, the Population Research Institute (PRI) and C-FAM, that, she claims, "oppose everything we stand for and everything we do," and that engage in "attacks based on lies, innuendos, half-truths, misrepresentations and disinformation."

     According to Obaid, such "unrelenting attacks" are "now an almost daily occurrence. It taxes our resources, both human and financial. It distracts us from our mission. It is an annoyance. It is worrisome. And it is immoral."
 
     Obaid did not specifically address the allegations that have been raised by either group. For instance, C-FAM has recently released a major investigation of UNFPA, which, among other things, has determined that UNFPA suffers from serious programmatic and financial mismanagement. However, Obaid seemed to acknowledge the veracity of these allegations when she claimed that UNFPA has now completed a "transition process" which has "greatly strengthened the Fund's internal audit capacity."

     In fact, much of the meeting has been spent in discussion of how UNFPA should respond to the UN Board of Auditors latest findings of mismanagement. UNFPA was forced to address dozens of problems identified by the auditors. For example, the Board "reiterated its recommendation that UNFPA develop a process for formally recording and monitoring the performance of its suppliers." The Board also "recommended that UNFPA intensify its efforts to improve the audit coverage in countries in which coverage was low and implement controls to obtain compensating assurances that funds were used for the purposes intended."

     This work seems far from complete. Even some of UNFPA's donor nations mentioned the need for UNFPA to implement stronger protections against fraud and corruption.

     Obaid also chose not to address the findings of a Bush administration investigation into UNFPA's activities in China, and its determination that UNFPA supports forced abortions in China. Without directly answering this charge, Obaid stated that "It is our earnest hope that the United States, which withdrew its contribution to UNFPA last year, will return to the UNFPA family of donors."

     Obaid acknowledged that UNFPA finances have suffered. "As everyone in this room knows," she said, "resource mobilization was a major challenge for UNFPA in 2002, and it is likely to remain a major challenge for 2003 and beyond. By the middle of last year, it was clear that UNFPA was facing a serious financial crisis…" According to Obaid, UNFPA's "core resources" dropped by $13 million last year, from $269 million to $256 million. "The impact of this financial loss was real and hung like a dark cloud over UNFPA's operational activities in programme countries," she concluded.

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