DEMARCHE TO UNFPA ON 6TH CHINA COUNTRY PROGRAM

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000436

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM/PIM, IO/MPR AND IO/EDA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UN KUNR PREF SOCI PHUM
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO UNFPA ON 6TH CHINA COUNTRY PROGRAM
REPORTS

REF: SECSTATE 49238


1. ECON Minister-Counselor Hagen met May 14 with UNFPA
Executive Director Thoraya Obaid, her deputy Mari Simonen,
and Asia-Pacific Deputy Director Neelakanthi Jayaratnam. In
response to the demarche in reftel, Obaid said UNFPA's
Executive Board would discuss the issue of access to audits
at its June 16-27 meeting in Geneva. The Chief Executives
Board had recommended last October that the UN funds and
programs grant access to audits if so authorized by their
executive boards. She would do so, she said, but she did not
feel she could take this step in advance of the Board's
decision. She was aware that UNDP had given the USG access
to audits of its DPRK country program, but she called this
the personal decision of the UNDP Administrator. If the
Board agreed in June that access to audits should be granted,
said Obaid, UNFPA could move quickly to give the USG access
to the audits concerning its China country program.


2. Obaid wondered whether the audits to which the USG seeks
access would provide the information needed to satisfy the
provisions of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment. She said these
audits deal mostly with internal management details. Hagen
said the USG's request includes access to audit reports and
monitoring records prepared by UNFPA or other organizations
acting at its request, including those concerning the
activities of Marie Stopes International. He also described
the six-month deadline in the Amendment and the need for
evidence to support the Department's determination.


3. Hagen asked if UNFPA is involved in the relief effort for
victims of the earthquake in China, and Jayaratnam confirmed
that the Fund is supplying kits for safe delivery of babies
in the areas affected by the disaster.
Khalilzad