According to the Swazi News on 6 November, MP Johannes Ndlangamandla has floated the idea that limiting by law the number of children people can have will help Swaziland develop. The News did mention that "globally" some countries, like China, limit the number of children a couple can have. Policymakers and policy influencers (like the News) would do well to tread carefully in this area.
First off, note that no one lives "globally"; we all live in some particular place. The question is, do we want some policy from another part of the globe to become policy in our own country?
China does indeed have a one-child policy, but it has led to a numerous and serious problems. Population Research Institute says that victims and witnesses report the following government activities in China related to its one-child policy: "age requirements for pregnancy; birth permits; mandatory use of IUDs (the loop); mandatory sterilization; huge fines for breaking one's child limit (in one instance, a couple was fined approximately 500,000 Emalangeni for having twins after they already had one child); jail sentences; destruction of homes and property; forced abortion and forced sterilization." Such dreadful actions would not improve Swaziland's position on the Mo Ibrahim log for democratic governance. Additionally, killing daughters via abortion is common, since sons are highly valued in China and couples want to make sure they get a boy. Being killed precisely because one is a girl is the epitome of gender-based violence, and Swaziland (rightly) hears continuous calls for an end to gbv.
China's experience shows that bringing the force of law to bear in order to reduce the number of births is a bad idea. Swaziland has development problems, but limiting the number of children by law is not the way to solve them.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
