Vol. 562 No. 5
158 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the concerns expressed by Galway for Life on the oppression of the Montagnard peoples in Vietnam; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6554/03]
231 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on such representations as he has received regarding the oppression of the Montagnard people in Vietnam. [6589/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 158 and 231 together.
There have been allegations that the UN Population Fund, the UNFPA, has supported coercive family planning methods among the Montagnard hill tribes in Vietnam. My Department has raised this matter with the UNFPA. In addition, an official from the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York participated in a field visit of donors to Vietnam in April 2002 organised by the UN Development Programme and the UNFPA. Donors had the opportunity to inspect the UNFPA's activities in Vietnam, to discuss these with UNFPA workers and to consult the Government of Vietnam on the role the UNFPA plays in support of voluntary family planning in Vietnam. A report on this field visit was discussed at the executive board of the UNFPA in January 2003.
The UNFPA has categorically denied the allegations concerning its programme in Vietnam. The UNFPAs programmes in Vietnam are strictly based on the principles of voluntarism which guide its work elsewhere in the world. Coercion is specifically forbidden by the UNFPA's founding mandate.
The UNFPA has been operating in Vietnam since 1977. Initially it worked with the Government but is now focused on more qualitative work involving the welfare of the mother and the child since 2001. Mother and child care has been a particularly big challenge in more remote rural areas and, in some of these areas, the UNFPA has been instrumental in assisting the opening of a series of reproductive health care and primary health care clinics. The UNFPA is also working to combat the spread of HIV-AIDS which, although still limited, is likely to spread significantly in the near future. These clinics and all the work the UNFPA carries out in Vietnam are guided by the principles of free choice, human rights, education and information.
