Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) (AP)

(CNSNews.com) – Speaking at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) accused the United Nations (UN) of being “complicit” in “crimes against humanity,” alleging that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) “whitewashes” millions of abortions in Communist China, many of them forced abortions.

Rep. Smith’s remarks came in the context of a discussion on China’s population-control policy, which he described as “the longest running and most far-reaching violations of human rights the world has ever seen.”

“In China today,” the congressman said, “abortion has been used as a weapon of mass destruction. Hundreds of millions of lives have been exterminated.”

(Photo: Center for Medical Progress, screenshot)

The U.S. Department of State estimates that roughly 23 million abortions are performed in China annually. As of 2013, 336 million abortions and 196 million sterilizations occurred in China since the implementation of population-control policies in 1971, according to Chinese government statistics reported by the Financial Times.

The UNFPA, Rep. Smith added, “has been complicit in China’s population-control policies right from the beginning. They not only turned a blind eye to these abuses, but helped facilitate and to fund them.”

In failing to acknowledge or confront the Chinese government’s “barbaric” policies, the UNFPA is “completely whitewashing these horrific crimes against women,” he said.

“Crimes against women, International Women’s Day, crimes against women, where is the outcry from the UN?” the congressman asked, “It is not existent, and it’s hypocritical.”