UN warning over sex imbalance
Monday, 29 Oct 2007 19:37
UN delivers warning over sex ratio imbalances among Asian newborns
A fresh crisis is brewing in
Asian nations owing to the prenatal selection of sons, the United Nations has warned.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says there will be "severe social consequences" if the gender imbalance is not addressed in countries such as Vietnam and Nepal.
According to a new report, Asian parents are increasingly using ultrasound or amniocentesis techniques to determine the sex of babies, leading to many unwanted females being aborted, often illegally.
Parents' preferences for boys are rooted in cultural and economic reasons, including potentially-expensive dowries for marrying off a daughter and the desire to have a supportive son in old age and to carry out ancestor worship rites.
But the UN agency says that Vietnam and Nepal are fast catching up with China and India, where gender imbalances are so critical that sex selection is outlawed.
Official census figures show that for every 120 males in China there are only 100 women, an offshoot of the country's once-disastrous one-child policy, which is still part-funded by the UNFPA.
The fund's executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said that continued sex ratio imbalances would lead to sexual violence and the trafficking of women.
"Sex ratio imbalances only lead to far-reaching imbalances in the society at large," the executive director warned in a statement delivered by agency deputy Purnima Mane at the fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights.
"And in response, we must carry forward the message that every human being is born equal in dignity, worth and human rights."