Population control is a violation of human rights, human dignity

By Msgr. John Wynand Katende

I wish to, belatedly, join the international community in observing Mandela Day. Remarkably, it comes immediately after World Population Day and the Day of the African Child.

The idea behind is that, given a civilised environment, each individual is born with a mission to flourish and transform the world into a better place to live.

It is on this note that we commend the United Nations Organisation for establishing Save the Children’s Fund, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), among others, with the objective of educating and motivating everyone towards a meaningful contribution to the life of every child from womb to tomb.

On a pathetic note, however, we regret the pessimistic messages that tend to make us believe that children can be a curse rather than a blessing. Using expressions like “population explosion”, propagandists claim that the world is getting overpopulated and causing an alarming deficit on needs.

The solution, according to them, lies with population control, birth control, abortion, euthanasia and the like. They are busy lobbying policy makers to determine the optimum number of people for each and every country. Paradoxically, population increases most under disfavouring circumstances, such in war.

The population control policy is linked to Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) who is also founder of International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF). Basing on the Malthusian theory that a population time bomb threatened the existence of the human race, Margaret’s intention is said to have been a systematic restriction or even an extermination of the black population in USA.

This year’s UN report on world population focuses on adolescent pregnancy in Africa, with a concern that such pregnancies can result in complications and may end in sterilization, or death. The report calls for increased education, increased medical care, and widespread distribution of contraceptives, abortifacients, and legalisation of abortion.

Sexual intercourse, which is deliberately contraceptive, is intrinsically wrong. Contraceptives may have long-term side-effects on the human body.

They are also known to facilitate risky behaviour such as promiscuity, as people who place their lives in false security loosen out on self-control and on real protection from pregnancy and disease.

Population control is a violation of human rights and human dignity. In effect, the hungry are known to be suffering from poverty, not from overpopulation. Simple economics reveals that it takes the work of human beings to transform raw materials and energy into useful resources.

If a system hinders rather than rewards human productivity and impedes efficient utilisation of resources through central planning, then the problem is definitely not due to numbers of people. Technological advancements can, indeed, enable us to produce enough food for every person on planet earth.

Uganda alone could feed the entire continent of Africa, if available land was utilised in terms of agriculture! This implies the realisation of people-centered political and economic policies and as well as a simple life-style.

The most empowering options remain education on natural family planning, monogamous marriages, self-control and access to medical care. It is essentially the parents’ duty to educate young people on the beauty, value and greatness of love and human sexuality.

The global community should, ultimately, shun the hyped culture of death by cooperating with the creative, providential and saving activity of God. He made the earth in such a way that it can accommodate and feed every child, even those we have not planned for (Is 45:18, Matthew 6:25).

Faith-based institutions are duty bound to heal a society traumatised by the abortion mentality in order to realise a more civilised environment for the nurturing of more Mandelas.

The writer is Episcopal Vicar for Kampala Diocese in charge of Public Relations