International Relations Committee
Support for Population Planning
The League supports U.S. efforts to assist other nations in their population planning programs, in accordance with the culture and mores of each country. The League also emphasizes strongly the importance of programs for nutrition, health, employment and education. The League advocates that the proportion of U.S. assistance given through multilateral channels should be substantially increased, with concurrent efforts being made to strengthen the multilateral agencies where necessary. The League opposes the "Gag Rule" applied to family planning programs.
250 Leaders, But Not US, Back UN Population Plan
October 2004
More than 250 world figures - but not the Bush administration - have urged the United Nations to promote a population agenda that seeks women's education, health care and family planning, Reuters reports. Wednesday's statement reaffirms the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 1994 commitment "to an action plan to ensure universal access to reproductive health information and services, uphold fundamental human rights including sexual and reproductive rights, alleviate poverty, secure gender equality, and protect the environment."
The Los Angeles Times notes that Kelly Ryan, deputy assistant secretary of State, wrote to backers of the plan that the United States was committed "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights." "The United States is unable, however, to endorse the world leaders' statement," Ryan said, because it "includes the concept of 'sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community." Ryan did not elaborate. At previous UN meetings, US representatives have spoken out against abortion, gay rights and what they see as the promotion of promiscuity by distributing condoms to prevent AIDS.
The Associated Press writes that to those who signed the 1994 statement, "sexual rights" means the right of women to decide when to have sex and who and when to marry, and the right to protection against sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and violent acts such as rape. The news agency adds the UN said that while there had been some improvements, the world was facing an exponential increase in HIV/AIDS, a growing gap between rich and poor, persistently high death rates related to pregnancy and childbirth, and inadequate access to family planning services.
Reuters further reports that since US President George W. Bush took office, the $34 million annual funds for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) have been withheld on grounds that it supports forced abortions in China, a contention the agency denies and says Washington never proved. Thoraya Obaid, head of UNFPA, says her agency suffered from the White House cuts until last year when European nations and foundations more than made up for the shortfall. Obaid added that the UN was cutting down on conferences and would focus on "the country and regional level where real action takes place." A reason is that recent social issue conferences, such as AIDS prevention, have become increasingly divisive. The United States, Islamic countries and a few Catholic nations have joined forces to combat UN documents from promoting sexual and other rights for gays, women and teenagers.
Kyodo (Japan) meanwhile notes the UN marked the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), popularly described as "an international bill of rights for women," with a roundtable discussion titled "CEDAW at 25: Are we moving forward?" It reviewed the progress in combating discrimination against women since the UN General Assembly adopted the convention in 1979. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded that although much progress toward eliminating discrimination against women has been made "in no country in the world has women's full de jure and de facto equality been achieved, with discriminatory laws still on the statute books of many states."
UNFPA
The League of Women Voters of the United States is a non-partisan, community-based political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
The decision of the Bush Administration not to provide a $34 million grant to the United Nations Population Fund was a backward step. The League has opposed cuts in the United Nations Population Fund and opposed the international gag rule.
For background information on the US cuts in the United Nations Population fund, see a statement by Thoraya A. Obaid, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund.
The statement begins:
"It is with deep regret that I confirm the loss of U.S. funding this year for the United Nations Population Fund. It is especially troubling since the fact-finding mission that was sent to China by the United States found quote: "no evidence that UNFPA has supported or participated in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China," as has been charged by critics. This is contained in the report dated 29 May 2002 addressed to Secretary of State Colin Powell. That report by the U.S. fact-finding mission recommended that U.S. funding be released to UNFPA.
A LWVUS position pertaining to population planning is copied below:
Statement of Position on International Development Assistance, as Announced
by National Board, April 1970 and Revised, April 1986:
The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that long-term requirements for world peace, humanitarian obligations and long-range national interests demand U.S. policies that help developing countries reach self-sustaining economic growth.
League members understand that the development process encompasses more than economic growth and urge that the focus be on the human concerns of development and on an improved quality of life for the people of developing countries. U.S. development assistance policies should enhance human dignity and fulfill basic human needs. The policies should be coordinated with other development efforts, and they should respect cultural differences. The League favors greater participation by the recipient nations in the planning and execution of development programs. The development effort should be one of a partnership between developed and developing countries. Development programs should be long-range, adequately financed, effectively coordinated and administered.
League members recognize that population pressures affect all other aspects of the development process. The League supports U.S. efforts to assist other nations in their population planning programs, in accordance with the culture and mores of each country. The League also emphasizes strongly the importance of programs for nutrition, health, employment and education. The League advocates that the proportion of U.S. assistance given through multilateral channels should be substantially increased, with concurrent efforts being made to strengthen the multilateral agencies where necessary.
The full statement is on the LWVUS web site: http://www.lwv.org >> Issues >> International Relations >> US Relations with Developing Countries >> Statement of Position on International Development Assistance