New Executive of UNICEF

Ann Veneman (US Agriculture Secretary) has been nominated by Kofi Annan to replace Carol Bellamy as the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Carol Bellamy, who was appointed by Clinton in 1995, had been steering UNICEF's policies toward her "women's rights" agenda. (Clinton obviously thought she was best for the world's children, as a New York Senator she voted against a bill that would grant rights to babies born alive after a botched abortion) In her time at the UN, she had become increasingly insistent on the right of all women (out of the womb) to have contraception, abortifacients, and abortion readily available. Bellamy and UNICEF were in close collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund which allowed forced abortions in China. Bellamy recently was calling for abortion aids in the disaster area of the Tsunami. Even the liberal leaning Lancet called for the resignation of Bellamy stating that, "she failed to address the basic health needs of children." When Veneman was asked about UNICEF's current policies on "reproductive health and education for girls," she responded, "I don't believe these issues are relevant to the mission of UNICEF." I will take this as a giant leap. Hopefully Veneman can make some progress for the children of the world.