Sir, - Dick Spicer (November 26th) decries the fact that your supplement on Irish aid to the developing world made no mention of population issues. I applaud the supplement for taking this very "Irish" approach towards development issues, which emphasises the need for those who wish to help people in poor countries, to listen to them and to understand the circumstances in which they make decisions about their lives, including the number of children they wish to have.
For more than thirty years, people in the poorer parts of the world have been badgered and bullied into adopting "solutions" to their problems provided by "experts" from the rich North. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been part of a mafia like network forming the population control establishment in one of the most abusive examples of social engineering in human history.
The arrogance of this approach has been to treat people in poor countries as non rational beings who do not understand the nature or consequences of procreation. It is most disappointing to discover that the general level of understanding of these issues in Iveagh House is such that the decision was made to double the contribution from Irish taxpayers to the negative programmes of the UNFPA.
What is required is precisely the thinking portrayed in much of your supplement; that is, to inspire the political will to fund the priorities of the families in these poor countries. Many of these are now being articulated by scholars from within these countries. One urgent need is £500 million for an immunisation programme to reduce infant mortality. Even greater political action is required to reduce trading tariffs, which could yield £55 billion in additional earnings for the less developed countries.
Thirty years of Malthusian scaremongering has yielded nothing but abuse of human rights in many poor countries. It is high time to adopt an approach which respects and listens to those we are trying to help, and to acknowledge the huge contribution that they will make in the future. - Yours, etc,
Dept of Geography,
University College, Galway.