UNICEF Staff Complain about C-Fam report

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NEW YORK, October 3 (C-Fam) A disturbing report by C-Fam [publisher of the Friday Fax] prompted the UN children’s agency to remove sexually explicit material from its website a few weeks ago. The decision by UNICEF management caused dissension among staff with some expressing “alarm” that the removal would reinforce a conservative view on sexuality and gender.

According to an article on the news site Devex.com, anonymous UNICEF staffers complained that no opportunity was provided to respond to C-Fam’s objections to inappropriate content for children. Staff defended the programs and publications saying they were what children “want and need” and that they were designed in collaboration with government representatives.

“Comprehensive sexual education contributes to child rights. It’s part of it,” a UNICEF staffer told Devex.

With an annual budget of over $8.2 billion, UNICEF is charged with the care of the world’s most vulnerable children. While Member States have never agreed to sexual rights for children, the agency nonetheless integrates comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) into country programs.

Comprehensive sexuality education is one of the most divisive issues in multilateral policy. Proposals by Western countries to include the term in resolutions in the General Assembly are always rejected by traditional countries where sexual programs for children are culturally prohibited.

The C-Fam report exposed dozens of examples of inappropriate programming and content for children including guidance on masturbation, gender fluidity, “good sex” and female genitalia that is aroused during intimacy. These are provided by UNICEF under the guise of sex education and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention.

At a UNICEF executive board meeting in August, in an unprecedented move, the United States voted against the new 3-year strategic plan of the agency due to the inclusion of controversial language that could be viewed as a mandate to advance children’s sexual rights.

“There has unequivocally never been an international commitment on “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” and we strongly oppose UNICEF including this non-agreed term in the Strategic Plan,” a U.S. representative stated.

The United States has been the single largest contributor to UNICEF directing over $2B in the past two years. Current funding levels are now questionable with both the Trump administration and some Congressional members wishing for fiscal restraint pending reform and accountability.

“UNICEF—and the United Nations as a whole—has a dismal history of pushing harmful gender ideology, abortion, and radical progressive views on sexuality and children, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) told the Friday Fax.  “The United States should not be a party to any of it,” said Senator Lee who chairs the subcommittee tasked with oversight of the UN.

Senator Lee, a long proponent for severing U.S. ties with the UN, introduced a bill last February to withdraw, citing the usurping of sovereignty and it being a “voice for Marxism.”

UNICEF staffers told Devex they feared more is coming.

“There’s a number of us within the organization that feel there is a bigger threat coming.” “It’s not just taking down a couple of articles but really creating that dynamic in which our intervention in this sector is going to be questioned continuously, and it creates a precedent that feels worrying.”

Increased scrutiny of UNICEF programs is warranted, according to Sharon Slater, president of Family Watch International. Slater’s organization has been tracking harmful CSE content and publications for over 25 years including by UNICEF.  She gave examples of a program in Mexico that taught children about “sexual pleasure” with “animals,” “inanimate objects” and “nonconsenting persons, and one in the Asia Pacific region that includes recommendations for youth that sexting nude videos and pictures is healthy.

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