World Bank Backs Away from Family Planning

Although the sweetheart deal Paul Wolfowitz arranged for Shaha Ali Riza strikes me as far more problematic than it does Julian, we should not let that dispute distract our attention from the many other indefensible things Wolfowitz has done as head of the World Bank. Exhibit A: trying to undermine the Bank’s traditional emphasis on family planning in developing countries:

In an internal e-mail, the bank’s team leader for Madagascar indicated that one of two managing directors appointed by Wolfowitz ordered the removal of all references to family planning from a document laying out strategy for the African nation. And a draft of the bank’s long-term health program strategy overseen by the same official makes almost no mention of family planning, suggesting a wider rollback may be underway.

The World Bank has traditionally championed birth control and other methods of family planning as a key strategy to improve women’s health and economic status.

The controversy has raised worries among some bank officials and health advocates that the Bush administration’s conservative stance on family planning issues may be seeping into the institution.

The managing director, Juan Jose Daboub, denied he was making substantial changes to the bank’s policy or that he demanded deletions to the Madagascar report. Daboub, a Roman Catholic with ties to a conservative Salvadoran political party, questioned staff outrage directed at him.

“To me this sounds like a storm in a glass of water,” he said in a recent interview. “There is no reason understandable for this.”

Bank staff members dispute Daboub’s claim that he made no changes to the Madagascar report. “It’s a blatant lie,” said one staffer who has seen the document. Like other internal critics, the employee requested anonymity because he said he feared for his job.

A copy of the report obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows repeated deletions of references to family planning and contraception.

Women’s health advocates said the situation was worrisome. “There’s mismanagement there,” said Carmen Barroso, a regional director for the International Planned Parenthood Federation. “Wolfowitz appointed a guy in a very high position who felt free to censor in line with his personal beliefs. I think that’s good grounds for sacking.”

It’s bad enough that, under Bush, the U.S. has zealously pursued an exceptionally harmful far-right anti-condom, pro-abstinence, anti-abortion agenda through restrictions on foreign aid. It’s even worse that the Bush administration is now pushing international organizations to do the same.