Month: August 2004

Journalists in Senegal Protest with Media Blackout

On June 23 the Le Quotidien newspaper published what it said was a confidential letter written by that country’s finance minister to its president. In the letter, the finance minister briefs the president on the status of an investigation into corruption by current and former members of the government.

Senegal did what any self-respecting government would do when a newspaper publishes information about a corruption investigation — it promptly arrested Le Quotidien editor Madiambal Diagne. Diagne was charged with publishing news “which could cause serious political problems.” Can’t have that now, can we?

Other media in Senegal responded in mid-July with a media blackout. Privately owned newspapers and news radio stations stopped broadcasting and publishing on July 9 as part of a “Day without the press” protest against the arrest.

The scary thing is that, as The BBC puts it, “Senegal . . . is seen as a beacon of good governance and stability in volatile West Africa.” If this is good governance . . .

Sources:

Senegal’s ‘Day without the press’. The BBC, July 12, 2004.

Editor’s detention triggers Senegalese media blackout. The Star (South Africa), July 13, 2004.

U.S. Withholds $34 Million from the UN Population Fund

The United States this month announced it would withhold $34 million allocated to the United Nations Population Fund for the third year in a row.

Under the provisions that the UN Population Fund money is allocated, it cannot be given to the agency if the State Department determines that there is a direct link between the UNPF and China’s practice of coercive abortion as part of its one child policy.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said of the withheld funds,

These Chinese programs have penalties that amount to coercion. THerefore we feel, by funding these programs, we would be indirectly helping the Chinese to improve their management of programs that result in coercive abortion, and that’s prohibited by our law.

Feminist Majority Foundation president Eleanor Smeal said of the decision,

Today, the President once again chose ideology over women’s health and rights by denying funding to UNFPA. This decisio means that for the third year in a row, women in nearly 140 countries around the world will pay a price for the president’s decision to appeal to his domestic base.

Not surprisingly, the Feminist Majority Foundation didn’t have a single thing to say about China’s coercive one-child policy.

Sources:

US cuts UN funds in abortion row. Jill McGivering, The BBC, July 17, 2004.

U.S. Blocks Aid to U.N. Population Fund. Barry Schweid, Associated PRess, July 16, 2004.

State Department refuses to fund the UNFPA. Feminist Daily News Wire, July 16, 2004.