Senator Boxer Calls Hearing on UNFPA

February 22, 2002

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has called a Senate hearing for next Wednesday, February 27, to address the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) program in China. In early January, the White House froze funds appropriated to UNFPA by Congress as part of the foreign assistance bill for fiscal year 2002, reacting to allegations by family planning opponents that UNFPA supports China's program of coercive abortion. This is the same UNFPA for which the White House requested $25 million last year, and to which the White House awarded an additional $600,000 last October for addressing women's health issues in Afghanistan. Congress approved $34 million for UNFPA in December 2001, in an agreement reached through extensive, bipartisan negotiations during the appropriations process. This move by the White House has already caused ripples of dissent on Capitol Hill - and nearly 130 members of Congress have signed a letter to the President urging him to honor the agreement they reached. The White House has the power to decide either to honor the congressionally appropriated amount and fund UNFPA at $34 million, to fund it at a lower level, or to not fund it at all. All signs indicate that a decision is imminent.

Wednesday's hearing will likely include representatives from the State Department and members of the UN agency's Executive Board who participated in their own investigation of the allegations. This investigation found UNFPA's programs not to be involved in China's coercive abortion policy. In fact, it concluded that UNFPA has successfully influenced the Chinese policy away from coercion toward voluntary family planning programs in the 32 counties where UNFPA is working.

The UNFPA is the foremost UN agency involved in expanding access to family planning and maternal health care around the world.

Lisa Moreno, Senior Legislative Policy Analyst at PAI commented, "The $34 million for UNFPA represents an agreement between Democrat and Republican appropriators and ratified by the full House and Senate. To fund UNFPA at a lower level is nothing less than the White House circumventing the will of Congress."

Funding Freeze Contradicts Administration's Stated Support for Family Planning

Last year the Bush Administration certified UNFPA as not being in violation of the Kemp-Kasten amendment (see Legislative Background, below.) Later, the Administration awarded additional funds specifically for UNFPA's activities in Afghanistan. The Administration's about-face on funding for UNFPA is mystifying, especially in light of the source of the allegations (see below).

• The Bush Administration approved the release of $21.5 million for UNFPA in FY2001, after the Secretary of State determined that UNFPA was not violating any U.S. laws.
• In FY 2002, President Bush included a $25 million request for UNFPA in his budget request.
• In October 2001, the Administration acknowledged the importance of elevating women's status in promoting democracy, and awarded $600,000 in additional funding for UNFPA, specifically for UNFPA's activities in Afghanistan.
• Secretary of State Colin Powell has testified before the House and Senate in support of a U.S. contribution to UNFPA, stating that "The UN Population Fund…provides critical population assistance to developing countries."
• Former President George H.W. Bush himself acknowledged the important role of UNFPA, noting, "…success in the population field, under United Nations leadership, may, in turn, determine whether we can resolve successfully the other great questions of peace, prosperity, and individual rights that face the world."

UNFPA: Proven Track Record of Saving Women, Children's Lives

Since 1969, UNFPA has worked to expand family planning and related health services to women and families across the globe, especially in the poorest regions of the world. UNFPA also plays a central role in securing contraceptives and related health supplies, supplying roughly one-third of the contraceptives going to developing countries - at a time when shortages in some countries are reaching critical levels.

UNFPA officials estimate that the loss of U.S. funding could undermine their capacity to prevent 800,000 abortions and the deaths of 4,700 mothers and 77,000 children under the age of five. It will also jeopardize UNFPA's international AIDS prevention programs.

Population Action International (PAI) President Amy Coen remarked, "For the President to do this, at this time, flies in the face of his proclaimed concern for all women, including those in Afghanistan. It's unconscionable."

Questionable Source of Allegations against UNFPA

The controversy surrounding US support of UNFPA appears to stem from the work of one organization alone - an organization that is an avowed opponent of UNFPA and of efforts to ensure access to family planning: the Population Research Institute (PRI).

• PRI has a history of launching inaccurate media campaigns in its endeavors to advance its anti-family planning, anti-choice, agenda. PRI charges that UNFPA is complicit in forced abortions and coercion in China - a claim UNFPA completely rejects. To the contrary, UNFPA has been instrumental in bringing about significant changes in Chinese policy in the 32 counties where UNFPA operates.
• Indeed, UNFPA has never been implicated in violations of human rights standards anywhere else in the world.
  

A U.S. Delegation to China?

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently alluded to the possibility of a U.S. delegation being sent to China to again investigate the allegations against UNFPA's activities there. It is important that any such delegation be comprised of objective representatives of the highest level, and dispatched as soon as possible.

In the meantime, the White House should consider the severe impact this political impasse is having on UNFPA's operations everywhere else in the world, and at least release the $25 million that was originally requested by President Bush in his FY2002 budget request. Debate could then continue on the remaining $9 million - without causing as much damage to the delivery of services.

Legislative Background: The Kemp-Kasten Amendment

The funding for UNFPA is being threatened under authority granted to the White House under a little-known provision of law originally called the Kemp-Kasten amendment, first incorporated in the foreign aid appropriation bill in 1985. Kemp-Kasten prohibits foreign aid funding for any organization that, as determined by the President, supports or participates in the management of a program of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization. For domestic political reasons, the Reagan and Bush administrations interpreted the language very broadly, resulting in a presidential determination that UNFPA was ineligible for funding because of its presence in China.

That same year, however, a review of UNFPA programs by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) determined that UNFPA neither funds abortions nor supports coercive family planning practices through its programs. Since then, various studies of China's family planning program have documented its compulsory nature and the presence of coercion in China's program overall, but UNFPA has never been implicated for any coercive practices. These findings had no impact on the Administration however, and UNFPA was still denied funding.

The Clinton Administration formally announced its intention to resume funding UNFPA in May of 1993. Using its authority under the Kemp-Kasten amendment, the Administration gave $14.5 million to UNFPA the following August. In subsequent years, U.S. funding for UNFPA has fluctuated, although a contribution has been made in every year except 1999. Funding for FY 2001 was at $25 million; the foreign aid bill negotiated this past December included $34 million for UNFPA.

Last year, the Bush Administration again reviewed UNFPA's activities and determined that UNFPA was not in violation of Kemp-Kasten. For the Administration to now consider backtracking on its commitment to this agency threatens to undermine the efforts of family planning and women's rights advocates, health workers, and women and families everywhere - especially in the regions where UNFPA works.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.