Comic Relief: One World Action

In the combox, Paulinus reported on a little "digging" he has done at the Comic Relief Cash in Action page. This lists the grants given last year to charities both in the UK and overseas.

One charity that benefited last year was One World Action (Zambia). One World Action is a non-governmental organisation based in London that supports projects in Africa, Asia and Central America.

One of the documents that is made available and supported by One World Action is "Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Central America." Although some of the content is specific to Central America, the document is a good summary of policy in various areas. For example (2.1.9)
One of the themes of the document is the negative influence of the Church It should be emphasised that the church’s opposition to abortion is not only due to its much trumpeted position that life begins with conception but also derives from its vision of motherhood as the destiny of all women.
The document explicitly opposes the Vatican's influence on the Millennium Development Goals, it opposes the emphasis in Catholic countries on abstinence ("not a realistic option") and regards the prohibition of abortion in the Honduras and El Salvador as "a great step backwards."

One World Action strongly promotes the "secular state" but regrets that the Church still has some influence and attacks in particular the work of Opus Dei.

In the "Notes for an Agenda for Action", the defence of the secular state is again seen as a "key political issue." There is advice on tactics for arguing the pro-abortion position:
When arguing for the decriminalisation of abortion –whether total or partial – it is important to go beyond arguments against the position of the Catholic Church, analysing the issue with all its implications. Rather than becoming trapped in a debate about abstract moral principles, the reality of the women who die every day because abortion has been forced underground should be emphasised. For this reason, the advocates of decriminalisation should demand that governments develop serious statistics on abortion-related mortality so as to make visible the problem.
In other words, rather than debate whether abortion is about killing babies, find some "back street abortion" propaganda. The document conveniently forgets the physical and psychological damage done to women by "legal" abortion throughout the world, not to mention the epidemic rise in sexually transmitted infections caused directly by "reproductive rights" programmes.

The whole document is a brief for pro-contraception, pro-abortion, and specifically anti-Catholic action.

In 2006, One World Action received a grant of £637,054 from Comic Relief scheduled over four years.

(I would be happy to post other information on "charities" supported by Comic Relief.)

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