Dokument #1175061
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
No report on whether unmarried women were forced to undergo pregnancy tests by family planning officials could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
On 1 July 1995, the Policy and Legislation Department of the Chinese State Family Planning Commission published a "Notification on Adhering Firmly to Seven Disciplines in the Enforcement of Family Planning Laws and Regulations" (UNESCAP 1 July 1995). The "Seven Disciplines" were put forward to strengthen the enforcement of family planning law and to address the wrongdoings in the implementation of family planning at the local level throughout the country (ibid.). The seventh discipline was the prohibition of organizing pregnancy tests for unmarried women (ibid.).
A March 1998 report prepared by the China Population Information and Research Center and Family Health International entitled The Effect of Family Planning on Women's Lives: The Case of the People's Republic of China stated that in the context of offering quality care to women, the family planning program had established a series of "women's checks" or IUD checks in family planning clinics (51). These tests involved mandatory quarterly examinations consisting of pregnancy and ultrasound checks (ibid.). The report makes no mention of unmarried women being forced to undergo pregnancy tests. Research for the report was carried out in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Baochang, Gu et al. March 1998. The
Effect of Family Planning on Women's Lives: The Case of the
People's Republic of China. http://www.fhi.org/en/wsp/wsfinal/pfds/china.pdf
[Accessed 29 Mar. 2001]
UN Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). 1 July 1995. "Notification on
Adhering Firmly to Seven Disciplines in the Enforcement of Family
Planning Laws and Regulations." http://www.unescap.org/pop/database/law_china/ch_record018.htm
[Accessed 28 Mar. 2001]
Additional Sources Consulted
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 2000. 2001
IRB Databases
LEXIS/NEXIS
World News Connection (WNC)
Two oral sources contacted
Internet sites including:
Amnesty International
Asia Week.com
China Online
China Population Information and
Research Center (CPIRC)
Human Rights in China
Human Rights Watch
Immigration and Nationality Directorate,
UK
People's Daily Online
Population and Family Planning: Laws,
Policies and Regulations
Search Engines:
Dogpile
Fast Search
Google
Whether unmarried women are obliged to undergo pregnancy tests by family planning officials (March 2001) [CHN36803.E] (Anfragebeantwortung, Französisch)