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U.S. Joins the Reproductive Health Consensus in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 2, 2004—The United States managed to join a diplomatic consensus at a meeting here this week on controversial population issues, but it left quite a few bruised toes in the process.
Members of many of the 41 country delegations at the Economic Council for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) conference reported strong pressure from the U.S. delegation and its “special guest,” conservative U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), to repudiate much of the language in goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
| U.S. Delegation: |
Richard Baring, State Department (Head of Delegation)
Kelly Ryan (alternate Head of Delegation)
Advisers include:
Salvador Enriquez
Virginia Giddy
Joan B. Horton (WH liaison)
Nan Kennelly
Janet Shannon
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At stake was the regional contribution to the official United Nations position on family planning, sexual and reproductive rights and health care, which will be issued in October. The Bush administration, the Vatican and other conservatives want to purge UN documents of language they see as promoting abortion rights or sexual promiscuity, but they had previously failed to break a united international front supporting the ICPD.
Several non-governmental organization participants said U.S. lobbying bordered on intimidation. “They continued until the last minute to pressure Central American countries here to pull back from the Cairo agenda,” said Alia Khan, director of Planned Parenthood Global Partners at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
In the end, after strenuous closed-door debate, the gathering crafted ambiguous diplomatic language that allowed general agreement on a final conference declaration, and three countries, including the United States, added “clarifications” that insisted “reproductive rights” does not include or refer to abortion rights. This was essentially the position it had taken at previous regional and sub-regional gatherings in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Chile, but efforts to change declaration language to that effect left it isolated at those gatherings.
Kelly Ryan, co-chair of the U.S. delegation, earlier denied any intent to intimidate anyone, and reiterated U.S. commitment to family planning and health care for all. “The United States supports the comprehensive approach contained within the goals and objectives of the ICPD Programme of Action," she said in the formal U.S. statement.
Earlier this week, a group of 21 members of Parliament, members of delegations here from 15 countries in Europe and the Americas, expressed support for the ICPD Programme of Action and cited a concurring letter from 103 members of the U.S. Congress, including eight Republicans. The June 15 letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, shared here by Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Joseph Crowley (both D-NY), supported ICPD goals and requested clarification of the legal basis for the Bush administration cutoff of funds to UNFPA, the UN Population Fund.
Catholics for a Free Choice and its Latin American partner groups released a poll of more than 6,800 Catholics in Mexico, Bolivia and Colombia who overwhelmingly that they respect their church but disagreed with and ignored its injunctions against the use of contraceptives. Another report, by the International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy, said Bush administration policies were “a systematic offensive” against sexual and reproductive rights that threatened people’s lives and health worldwide.
Uneasy Consensus Reached at ECLAC Conference On Reproductive Rights and Services
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 2, 2004—Health and population policy-makers from 41 countries managed an uneasy consensus on the importance of reproductive rights and services today after “clarifications of position” were added by three delegations, including the United States.
The five-day meeting here of the Economic Council for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) thus became the only regional evaluation of progress on goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) where the United States did not isolate itself from all other participants.
In previous conferences over the last six months in Europe and Asia, and in sub-regional gatherings in Mexico, New York and Chile, the U.S. delegation has repeatedly stood alone in opposing a reaffirmation of the ICPD Programme of Action. After intensive lobbying here, the U.S. delegation this time persuaded El Salvador and Costa Rica to go along in detailing their concerns in a way that still allowed all to “endorse” the final agreement.
“This administration has a record of undermining global health,” said Alia Khan, director of Global Partners of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “It will be utterly important to watch what they do, not what they say.”
The body of today’s final declaration seemed contradictory to many. It formally endorsed the “declaration” of the Chile conference that the United States refused to join in March, but included a line “taking note of” that conference’s full report, which included the U.S. dissent. That diplomatic language, agreed upon by ECLAC’s population and development committee earlier this week, was crafted, as one Brazilian delegate said, “so everyone can at least coexist with it.”
Today’s “clarifications” spelled out the Bush administration’s conviction that some language in the ICPD Programme of Action, including “reproductive rights” and references to condom use, is either code for abortion or promotes sexual promiscuity.
“The United States understands that the term ‘reproductive rights’…does not constitute support, endorsement or promotion of abortion or abortion-related services or the use of abortifacients,” the U.S. clarification said. El Salvador and Costa Rica echoed that stance.
The U.S. statement also reiterated recognition of “the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents” to control sexual education for their adolescent children, and reserved its position on use of the term “sexual rights” on grounds it “has no definition in the international community” and “could be interpreted to include harmful sexual activities affecting children, adolescents, and adults.”
When the session ended, delegates’ mood was more relieved than exultant. “This an overwhelming expression of support for the Programme of Action,” said Thoraya Obaid, director of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, in a prepared statement. “Cairo is alive and well in this region.”
UNFPA Reassures Health Ministers on Its Operations
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 1, 2004—The head of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, took steps today to reassure country delegates to a health and population conference here who are under U.S. pressure to abandon the agency.
Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA’s director, told a meeting of health ministers that despite charges from the Bush administration and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the agency still does not and never has promoted abortion as a method of family planning, nor has it condoned any coercive family planning practices. She later told a news conference the same thing.
“There is no ambiguity and no controversy here as far as we are concerned,” she said.
Smith, here as a special guest of the U.S. delegation to the Economic Council for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) committee on population and development, has been instrumental in the Bush administration decision to cut funding for UNFPA over the past two years. He also wrote June 29 to the president of Guatemala urging that his delegation withdraw support for a pending conference declaration endorsing the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
The U.S. delegation here made similar requests to many participants, and negotiations Wednesday led to language changes that allowed endorsement by all countries present, including the United States. But the U.S. delegation is expected to issue further clarification of its position at Friday’s closing session, along with other countries including Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Regional news coverage of the proceedings and the controversy led delegates from at least four countries—Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala—to express concern today to UNFPA officials, according to a UNFPA spokesperson, resulting in Obaid’s meeting.
“This conference is not about abortion; it is about fighting poverty and achieving development,” she said. The real issue involves a $3 billion shortfall in promised donor country funding for reproductive health care, she added.
Final ECLAC Declaration Adopted by Acclamation
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 30, 2004—After intensive negotiations, the United States tonight joined the rest of the Americas at a meeting here in a broad statement of consensus on the value of family planning, health care and development for the poor of the planet, avoiding the confrontations that left it isolated around the world at previous conferences on population issues.
The final declaration of the Economic Council for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) committee on population and development, adopted by acclamation, was carefully worded to paper over deep disagreements between the U.S. government and most of the other 41 countries at the meeting. The U.S. delegation is still expected to issue a “clarification of position” at a closing session Friday that will underline its opposition to certain aspects of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
“We welcome the participation of the United States in this consensus,” said Thoraya Obaid, director of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, in a closing statement to the gathering of more than 300 health and population policy-makers. The final declaration formally took note of the full report of a March sub-regional conference that included the U.S. delegation’s lone dissent, and then endorsed that conference’s declaration.
“Huge differences still exist,” said Terri Bartlett, vice-president of Population Action International, “but when delegation after delegation affirmed the consensus, the U.S. had to find a way to join it to keep from isolating themselves again.” Other non-governmental organization representatives said the language was something all sides could live with and would ease future work on shared goals of investment in family planning, health care and education for women.
The U.S. delegation spent days urging other delegations to join it in declining to “reaffirm” the March declaration, and at least two other countries (Nicaragua and Costa Rica) are expected to issue their own clarifications of position on Friday. They oppose references to “reproductive rights” and “safe motherhood” as code for abortion, among other objections.
In an earlier formal U.S. delegation co-chair Kelly Ryan reiterated the U.S. commitment “to improve the health of women, men, adolescents and children.” Referring to reports of U.S. pressure on other delegations here, she said, “You may have heard statements from different groups that incorrectly cast doubt on that commitment. We regret that the United States position has been misconstrued or misinterpreted.”
NGO Coalition Urges Support for ICPD Consensus, Condemns US Pressure Against It
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 30, 2004—A coalition of 39 non-governmental organizations joined 103 members of the U.S. Congress today in urging health and population policy-makers meeting here to reaffirm an international consensus calling for investment in reproductive health care and services for women.
The group, called A Mothers’ Promise the World Must Keep Campaign, also condemned contrary efforts by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and the official U.S. delegation to the conference, who are opposed to use of the phrase “reproductive health services” and other terms in a pending conference declaration.
| U.S. Delegation: |
Richard Baring, State Department (Head of Delegation)
Kelly Ryan (alternate Head of Delegation)
Advisers include:
Salvador Enriquez
Virginia Giddy
Joan B. Horton (WH liaison)
Nan Kennelly
Janet Shannon
|
At a news briefing, the Mothers’ Promise Campaign made public a June 29 letter from Smith to President Oscar Berger of Guatemala and his wife that urged them “to consider instructing your delegation NOT to reaffirm” certain parts of the declaration, on grounds they are “direct attacks on the right to life, family rights and national sovereignty.”
“These are very serious allegations,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who appeared with the Mothers’ Promise group. “The letter is extremely troubling and absolutely wrong” in its direct approach to a head of state. “Parliamentarians should be talking to parliamentarians or through our State Department,” she said.
Terri Bartlett, vice-president of Population Action International, said the letter on Smith’s office stationery appeared to be an official U.S. government position. “If I were receiving it, I would think it was an official request,” she said. Neither Smith nor Maloney are members of the U.S. delegation.
Smith’s letter may not have been delivered, for the head of Guatemala’s delegation, in an official speech Tuesday, expressed that country’s strong support for the ICPD consensus.
Carmen Rivera, a member of the Puerto Rico delegation and head of ProFamilia of Puerto Rico, a family planning organization, told the news conference the U.S. delegation had also “expressed concern” to her delegation about Puerto Rico’s support for the ICPD consensus. As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico has non-voting observer status here. “It’s okay for them to express concern, but we will reaffirm it again,” she said.
Maloney was one of 103 Members of Congress who wrote June 15 to Secretary of State Colin Powell urging a U.S. reaffirmation of support for the 1994 Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). This five-day gathering of the UN Economic Council on Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is debating a declaration assessing the decade of progress toward ICPD goals.
U.S. Government Does Not Speak for Americans on Reproductive Rights, According to 103 Members of Congress
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 29, 2004—The American people do not agree with the U.S. government’s opposition to the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), two Members of Congress said today, and to prove it they documented support for the international consensus from another 101 of their colleagues.
Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Joseph Crowley, both New York Democrats, gave copies of the bipartisan letter to some of their counterparts here, members of Parliament who are among their countries’ delegations to a UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean conference of regional decision-makers on population and reproductive health. The gathering is under pressure from the U.S. delegation to withdraw support for the 1994 ICPD goals of investing in reproductive health programs and services, especially for women.
| U.S. Delegation: |
Richard Baring, State Department (Head of Delegation)
Kelly Ryan (alternate Head of Delegation)
Advisers include:
Salvador Enriquez
Virginia Giddy
Joan B. Horton (WH liaison)
Nan Kennelly
Janet Shannon
|
“We are here to give a voice to the majority of Americans,” Maloney told a press luncheon with the parliamentarians. “The Bush administration does not speak for the American people on this.”
Signed by 103 members of Congress, including eight Republicans and one independent, the June 15 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell expresses “strong, bipartisan support for a recommitment to the Program of Action” of the ICPD “in honor of its 10th anniversary.” The letter urges a formal reaffirmation of the so-called Cairo consensus, calling it “vital to U.S. interests.”
Crowley criticized arguments from the U.S. delegation that references to “reproductive health services” in conference documents are code for abortion. “That is simply not the case,” he said. He said recent U.S. legislation on teaching young men respect for women had been opposed by conservatives on grounds the phrase “human rights” was also code for abortion. “I don’t know what words we will be able to use,” Crowley said.
Chris McCafferty, Member of Parliament from the United Kingdom, said her government was preparing to announce an official strategy and policy on reproductive health and another on preventing HIV/AIDS next week. Recent parliamentary hearings found “very strong links” between the two, she said.
Erika Brockmann Quiroga of the Bolivian parliament said implementing the Programme of Action was “quite a challenge” for her relatively impoverished country, and that recent U.S. cuts in support for UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, had been strongly felt there. Margarita Percovich of the Parliament of Uruguay agreed. “ It is very difficult to achieve the Programme of Action,” she said. “We are very worried” about being able to fund the work.
ICPD is a Global Blueprint for Action, Says UNFPA’s Thoraya Obaid
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 29, 2004—The global consensus on the value of reproductive health care and services is “the blueprint for action” against poverty in most of the world’s countries, the head of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, said today.
Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA director, told a plenary gathering of Latin American and Caribbean health and development policy-makers here that four-fifths of the region’s countries have raised and spent additional resources on sexual and reproductive health programs and services in the last decade. While this is “unprecedented progress” toward the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), lack of funds is still the major constraint, she said.
Obaid spoke as official delegations from 41 countries began negotiations behind the scenes on whether to reaffirm the ICPD Programme of Action, also known as the Cairo agenda, or to stipulate official reservations. The U.S. delegation, once the agenda’s largest funder, has recently ended its support for UNFPA and is seeking conference language that would omit references to “sexuality” and to “reproductive rights,” among other changes.
In her remarks, Obaid referred obliquely to previous regional meetings where other country delegations unanimously rejected the U.S. position. “The true strength of the Cairo agreement, and the one that has been echoed loudly and clearly from Bangkok to Dakar and from Geneva to Port-of-Spain and Santiago, is its balance and its breadth,” she said. “The Programme of Action is the blueprint for action in just about all countries. It is their Programme of Action, and they will implement it as they think best to meet their national development goals.”
Obaid reminded her audience that “efforts to reduce poverty must go hand in hand with efforts to increase respect for human rights.” Otherwise, she said, “the gains achieved so far may never reach the poor, or may well be reversed.” The Millennium Development Goals endorsed by world leaders “cannot be achieved without achieving the ICPD goal of universal access to reproductive health services,” she said.
The meeting of the Population and Development Committee of the Economic and Social Council of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) continues through Friday. Its final declaration will be forwarded to the United Nations for reference at an October assessment of ICPD progress.
U.S. Officials Expected to Block Global Consensus on Global Women's Health
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 27—U.S. officials are expected to try again this week to derail a global consensus that investment in women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights is essential to promote economic development and slow population growth.
More than 300 health and development leaders from 40 Latin and Caribbean countries will debate that issue, among others, when they convene here this week under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The focus of the three-day session of ECLAC’s Committee on Population and Development will be on whether to reaffirm the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
The U.S. delegation has been left isolated at several previous international gatherings when other delegations unanimously rejected its argument that references in conference documents to reproductive health, adolescent rights and condom use are either code for abortion or promote promiscuity. Most recently, a preliminary meeting in Santiago, Chile, refused to accept U.S. reservations. But the U.S. position may win more support here, at a meeting on U.S. territory.
“They have been actively seeking support for their position, visiting ministry after ministry in country after country in this region,” said Terri Bartlett, vice president of Population Action International. “They’re pushing countries that had reservations in 1994 to return to those positions, even though they have abandoned the U.S. position of 1994 themselves.”
NGO activities include two releases on Monday: a special public opinion poll by Catholics for a Free Choice on Catholics’ views of sexual and reproductive health issues, and the report of the International Working Group on Sexuality.
While ECLAC and other UN economic and social development bodies generally operate on a consensus basis, votes may be taken if consensus cannot be reached.
The meeting is being held as part of ECLAC’s biennial review of regional issues, and a final ECLAC declaration on July 2 will be forwarded to the United Nations for reference in its October review of ICPD progress.
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