Population Issues in 2002 At A Glance

Jan 11 - New momentum and a calendar full of international events propel population issues into an active 2002. In the year ahead, international family planning and reproductive health, along with a host of challenges vital to saving women’s lives will figure prominently in the public policy dialogue in Congress and around the world.

In addition to the Bush Administration’s global gag rule and fiscal 2003 budget request, the upcoming year will feature major international conferences on ageing, children and the environment, as well as continued focus on the reproductive health needs of Afghan and other refugees, the global HIV/AIDS crisis and the significant international underfunding of population activities and the associated shortfall of reproductive health supplies around the world.

What follows is a review of some of the major issues, activities and events on the 2002 horizon:

Global Gag Rule - On January 22, 2001, the first full business day of his Administration, President Bush issued an executive order imposing a global gag rule on international family planning providers (the order is sometimes referred to as the Mexico City policy). The President’s executive order denies US funding to any foreign non-governmental organizations that uses its own funds to provide information or counseling related to abortion services, or to voice an opinion about abortion laws in their own countries.

Experts have indicated that the global gag rule diminishes family planning, women’s health and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts around the world by denying funds to some of the most accomplished family planning providers. Moreover, the order runs contrary to basic freedoms of speech in the United States and would be unconstitutional if imposed on US-based organizations. (For more background info, see The Global Gag Rule Restrictions Guide)

Proposals to overturn the Bush Administration gag rule were considered in both the US House and Senate last year. These proposals would have prevented the Administration from denying funds to foreign non-governmental organizations:

a) if such organizations use their own, non-US funds to provide health services that are consistent with the laws of the country in which they are being provided and that would be legal if provided in the United States; and

b) that are more restrictive on the foreign organizations than they are on US-based NGOs.

Despite significant support in both chambers of Congress, language overturning the gag rule was not included in the final Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2002 after President Bush threatened to veto such legislation.

US Funding for Population Activities – The most significant increase in US funding for international family planning, reproductive health and closely related development efforts was approved by Congress late in 2001. Overall international family planning efforts were increased by almost 8 percent to $480 million in fiscal 2002, from $445 million in fiscal 2001. $446.5 million was approved for bilateral family planning programs, and $34 million for multilateral efforts through the UN Population Fund. Total US funding for international family planning and reproductive health still falls far short of the $585 million appropriated in 1995, and represents less than half of the funding needed to fulfill the United States share of funding needed to achieve universal access to family planning services by 2015, as outlined in the action plan agreed to at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

Congress also approved increased funding for several closely related development efforts. Funding for international HIV/AIDS prevention programs increased by $160 million to $475 million. Coupled with other appropriations, total US funding for international AIDS prevention efforts totaled $675 million in fiscal 2001. Spending on the well-being of children around the world will total $1.43 billion in fiscal 2001. Funding under this heading includes a $120 million contribution to UNICEF and $165 million for basic education programs.

Reproductive Health for Refugees – The UN Population Fund and other organizations are working urgently to meet the needs of displaced civilians in Afghanistan and in other refugee settings around the world. In Afghanistan, UNFPA has helped to lead effort to provide reproductive health care for displaced women, with special emphasis on the delivery of emergency supplies to assist Afghan women with poor health conditions associated with pregnancy and childbirth.

International Meetings and Events – A number of major international meetings and events will occur in 2002 that touch on population, women and related issues:

· Second World Assembly on Ageing, Madrid, Spain, April 8-12, 2002: Around the world, advances in health care and development levels are allowing people to live longer. In response to this significant demographic development, nations from around the world will gather in Madrid for the Second World Assembly on Ageing. Issues to be discussed include the effect of changing age structures on dependency ratios and social security systems in the most advanced nations; and the negative impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on life expectancy in the most affected countries, particularly in Africa. Family planning advocates will urge participants to recognize that fertility declines in a relatively small number of developed countries, is accompanied by high fertility rates in the least developed countries. The 50 poorest nations will triple in size between now and 2050.

· UN Special Session on Children, New York, May, 2002: Postponed as a result of the terrorist attacks on America, the UN General Assembly will host a Special Session on Children to review progress in the past decade and chart a course for the coming decade on behalf of the world’s children. A range of children’s issues – from education to disease – will be discussed at the meeting. At the Special Session, representatives from most of the world’s nations, and heads of state from many of them, will finalize an action plan known as the “Outcome Document.” Key unresolved issues include calls for nations like the United States to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the financial assistance and resources to be provided for children’s benefit, and references in the document to reproductive health.

· 14th International AIDS Conference, July 7-12, 2002: The growing global HIV/AIDS epidemic will be explored at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain July 7-12, 2002. Past conferences have dwelled primarily on biomedical issues; this year’s conference will be restructured to more thoroughly explore response strategies, particularly HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Special attention will need to be given to the acceleration in the number of HIV/AIDS cases involving women, who now account for 50 percent of all infected adults.

· World Summit on Sustainable Development, August 26 to Sept 4, 2002: The 10-year follow-up to the historic “Earth Summit” held in Rio in 1992, the WSSD will review international progress in addressing the world’s major environmental and development challenges. Among other issues, the Summit will consider the relationship between rapid population growth, the status of women and international environmental trends.

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