Planetwire.org, June 26, 2008
Bush Administration Withholds
UNFPA Funds for 7th Straight Year
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration today said it would withhold $39.7 million authorized by Congress for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, for the seventh straight year.
Congressional critics immediately slammed the long-expected decision as once more based on spurious charges. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said she was “deeply disappointed, but not surprised,” calling it proof the administration remains in a “retrograde rut” and is “blinded by political extremism.”
Since 2002, the administration has withheld a total of US$235 million from UNFPA, which supports voluntary family planning and reproductive health care programs in 154 countries worldwide. In his letter notifying Congress of the decision, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte once again cited UNFPA’s program in China as the reason, saying that by providing “financial and technical resources” to the government, UNFPA “provides support for and participates in the management” of coercive abortions and sterilizations there.
A statement made by the United Kingdom on behalf of other UNFPA board members (including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany) when they approved the 6th country programme in 2006 said "A central objective of development cooperation is to improve policy and practise through dialogue and assistance. In this respect, we believe UNFPA is a 'force for good' by playing a crucial and catalytic role through its work in China, particularly in the selected counties."
The statement went on to read "let me state unequivocally that in our view, UNFPA's activities in China, as in the rest of the world, are in strict conformity with the unanimously adopted Programme of Action of the ICPD, and play a key role in supporting our common endeavour, the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Our delegations believe UNFPA deserves strong support to pursue these activities-thereby contributing to reaching the MDGs, particularly those related to HIV/AIDS, maternal health and child mortality." -The United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.
UNFPA officials have repeatedly noted that nearly all other countries recognize the value of UNFPA’s work to support family planning and safe motherhood education and services. The agency, supported by voluntary contributions from UN member states, works in all the world’s poorest countries and in many where US aid agencies do not operate. A record 182 UN member states contributed US$419 million to the fund’s operating resources in 2007, the highest number of donor nations and the largest amount of contributions since the fund began operating in 1969. Donors included every country in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The top ten donors in 2007 were the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Spain and Canada, leaving the United States alone as the only country to withhold funding for political reasons.
The statement said the funds earmarked for UNFPA would be redirected to other US family planning assistance programs. In 2007, U.S. population assistance totaled $435.6 million, down 24 percent from the 1995 high of $576.6 million, and down 45 percent in terms of constant 1974 dollars, according to calculations by Population Action International (PAI).