For Immediate Release:	March 10, 2003
For More Information:	Megan McKenna, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, meganm@womenscommission.org, 212-551-0959
Sponsor Organization:	Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Expansion of the Mexico City Policy will degrade health care services for women and endanger their lives by delaying the funding of critical health programs with cumbersome reporting requirements.
New York, NY, March 7, 2003 - As non-governmental organizations providing lifesaving refugee health care, we are alarmed by recent press reports of an expansion of the “Mexico City Policy” to refugee assistance as well as HIV/AIDS funding. The Mexico City Policy as it currently applies to USAID Population grants prohibits U.S. aid to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that offer abortion counseling or services, even with their non-U.S. money. Although an expansion of the policy to refugee assistance and HIV/AIDS programming has not been formally announced, several NGOs have had their U.S. health program funds put on hold pending an announcement. An estimated 80 percent of refugees are women and children. These women and children are most vulnerable to the consequences of displacement such as gender-based violence, including rape, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe delivery and sexually transmitted diseases, like HIV/AIDS. Expansion of the Mexico City Policy will degrade health care services for women and endanger their lives by delaying the funding of critical health programs with cumbersome reporting requirements. Refugees and the internally displaced will suffer the effects of these new restrictions most in emergencies, when the availability of health services is limited and implementation must be immediate. As it stands, the Mexico City Policy places unwieldy certification requirements on recipients that delay needed care to all women. Specifically, the policy requires beneficiaries of U.S. funding who partner with local and foreign organizations to prove they are not providing abortions or counseling on the availability of abortion. This certification process places the burden of time consuming reporting requirements on the recipient and its local partner, who will be unable to provide the necessary information quickly in a humanitarian emergency, when time is of the essence. The lack of transparency in the process to expand this restrictive policy has already had a chilling effect and has created confusion and delay. Vital HIV/AIDS programs have been halted; programs have lost essential staff. Local community groups who rely on such funding are struggling to address health problems in their communities while being forced to cut programs that have been proven to save women’s lives. As the U.S. government contemplates these new restrictions, hundreds of thousands of lives are at great risk, needlessly. In these uncertain times, the United States should do more to protect refugee and internally displaced women, not less. There’s no question that the new restrictions would result in these women becoming even more vulnerable; they would also tie the hands of groups that are ready and able to help them. As organizations that have successfully assisted refugee and internally displaced women and girls for years, we urge the U.S. government to uphold the basic right of all refugees to comprehensive health care and immediately end discussions to expand the Mexico City Policy to refugee assistance. Signed by: ·Columbia University, Program on Forced Migration & Health ·Engender Health ·International Rescue Committee ·JSI Research and Training Institute ·Marie Stopes International ·Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children