FACT SHEET:  THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND AND CHINA

 

WHAT IS UNFPA?

 

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries.  The Fund, which began operations in 1969, is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly.

 

WHO FUNDS UNFPA? 

 

UNFPA is funded from voluntary contributions by member states – not from the UN’s regular budget.  The Fund has 102 donors, including  Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Pakistan, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Australia and Italy.  UNFPA’s income in 2000 was $363 million.

 

IS THE US THE LARGEST FUNDER OF UNFPA?

 

No.  Various countries provide more to UNFPA than the United States.  The US just provided an annual contribution of  $21.5 million.  Recently, Japan and the Netherlands have each given about $50 million annually, with Norway, Denmark and the UK each in the $25 million range.   

 

WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF UNFPA OPERATIONS?

 

UNFPA provides support to 156 countries, 45 in sub-Saharan Africa, 34 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 43 in Asia and the Pacific, and 34 in the Arab States and Europe.  UNFPA directly manages the majority of the world’s multilateral population assistance.  Since 1969, UNFPA has provided almost $5 billion for reproductive health including voluntary family planning and capacity building in developing countries.

 

ARE UNFPA’S PROGRAMS EFFECTIVE?

 

Organized family planning, led by UNFPA during the past 30 years, has been one of the most successful development efforts ever.  Globally, fertility rates have been reduced from 6 to 3 children per women, improving the health of mothers and their children.  The rate of global population growth has slowed dramatically over the past three decades as a result of international efforts led by UNFPA to provide safe, voluntary family planning around the world.  Still, the 48 poorest nations in the world are scheduled to triple in size  the next 50 years, necessitating continued support for international family planning.

 

WHAT IS UNFPA’S POLICY ON ABORTION? 

 

UNFPA does not provide support for abortions or abortion-related activities anywhere in the world.  UNFPA’s policy, adopted by the Governing Council, clearly states that it is “the policy of the Fund...not to provide assistance for abortion, abortion services, or abortion-related equipment and supplies as a method of family planning.”  Neither does the Fund promote or provide support for involuntary sterilization or coercive practices of any kind.   In fact, the Fund is a global leader in working to eliminate the use of coercive family planning practices. 

 

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNFPA AND OTHER ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS?

 

UNFPA provides population assistance to 156 countries, more than any other donor agency.  In comparison, only about 60 countries currently receive U. S. population assistance.  In addition, UNFPA is an important source of funds for many countries.  For example, UNFPA funding accounted for more than two-thirds of total population assistance in roughly one-quarter of the countries it assisted in the mid-1990s.  UNFPA has played a key role in countries where few other donors provide population assistance – such as Iran and a number of small African countries.

 

IS UNFPA CURRENTLY OPERATING IN CHINA?    

 

As is its right as a UN member, China has requested assistance from UNFPA.  In 1997, after several years of discussion, UNFPA and the Chinese Government agreed upon activities UNFPA can undertake in accordance with the principles set at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 (including those associated with human rights, gender equality, and individual liberty). 

 

DOES UNFPA CONDONE COERCIVE ACTIVITIES IN CHINA?

 

UNFPA has not, does not and will not ever condone coercive activities in China or anywhere.  UNFPA is committed to UN’s Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the International Conference on Population and Development’s Program of Action, which condemn coercion in all its forms.  UNFPA funds in China can only be used in a manner consistent with the organization’s objectives.   Moreover, UNFPA does not support China’s one-child policy, and is unequivocally opposed to targets and quotas.   In fact, UNFPA’s efforts have been aimed at (and insisted upon) relaxation of China’s rigid reliance on quotas. 

 

COULD UNFPA DECIDE ON ITS OWN NOT TO OPERATE IN CHINA? 

 

No.  Under the rules of the United Nations, China is entitled to request assistance from UNFPA.  UNFPA is governed by an Executive Board, comprised of 36 nations, which must authorize all programs undertaken by the organization.  UNFPA programming in China has been undertaken pursuant to decisions taken by the members of its Executive Board.

 

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF UNFPA’S PRESENCE IN CHINA?

 

In January 1998, UNFPA’s 36-nation Executive Board approved a new, sharply focused four-year program for China. The program operates in 32 selected counties and was designed to advance voluntary family planning and to demonstrate that free choice, access and information can be the basis for effective reproductive health programs. The four-year program authorized expenditures of $20 million (approximately $5 million per year, a small amount compared with UNFPA’s annual income of about $300 million).

 

The program was to expire at the end of 2000.  However, due to its late start, the program has been extended through the end of 2001.  As of the end of 2000, UNFPA had expended approximately $10.5 million. 

 

WHAT ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS OF UNFPA’S VOLUNTARY PROGRAM IN CHINA?   

 

UNFPA’s activities in China represent a significant breakthrough. Before agreeing to provide assistance, UNFPA insisted that China agree to adhere to the principles contained in the ICPD Program of Action in the 32 counties where UNFPA will provide assistance.  For example, the Chinese authorities have agreed to abolish all quotas and targets in those counties. 

 

The four-year program, totaling $20 million – less than half the average annual expenditure of UNFPA’s previous programs in China – are designed to improve the delivery of voluntary family planning information and services.  Specifically, the program focuses on improved counseling services; expanding the range of available contraceptive methods; improving pre- and post-partum care and assisted births; training health workers about the methodologies and advantages of informed consent, and emphasizing the international requirement to do so; and enhancing efforts to prevent and treat sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.  In addition, the program includes components to enhance the status of women and encourage exchanges with voluntary programs in other developing countries.

 

WHAT POSITIVE CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED AS A RESULT OF UNFPA ASSISTANCE TO CHINA?  

 

UNFPA’s efforts in China between 1980 and 1995 have advanced the availability of quality, voluntary family planning, improved maternal health, reduced infant mortality and advanced human rights.

 

UNFPA has maintained a constant dialogue with Chinese officials about abuses of human rights, especially those attributable to rigid enforcement of China’s one-child policy.  The Fund has purposefully designed projects to demonstrate the practical advantages of voluntary efforts and has successfully done so.  UNFPA remains diligent in requesting that China review and moderate provincial and local regulations that are not in conformity with international human rights standards.

 

The US State Department’s most recent human rights report on China notes significant progress toward reducing coercive family planning practices.   For many years, it has been reported that China’s most restrictive practices have occurred in the cities.  The State Department’s report on human rights in China in 2000 states that “the Government was beginning to relax its policies in the cities,” including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province and parts of Guizhou Province.  The report goes on to state that “outside the cities, exceptions to the ‘one-child policy’ are becoming the norm.”  Taken together, these findings essentially indicate a countrywide relaxation of restrictive practices. 

 

The State Department’s report indicates that UNFPA has done exactly what it said it would do in the 32 counties in which it is working – getting these counties to eliminate the system of strict, government-assigned birth quotas.  “In Sichuan Province, a couple can legally have a second child without applying for permission…” 

 

Moreover, the report indicates that Chinese authorities are recognizing the greater wisdom of the non-restrictive approach advocated by UNFPA.  The State Department’s Human Rights report indicates that more than “600 counties covering about half the country’s population have adopted more liberal policies.”  “Other jurisdictions, such as Minglan village in Yandu County, have reportedly followed the earlier example of Beijing and other cities, abolishing birth permits and allowing couples to decide on their own when to have a baby.”

UNFPA has also:

 

·        Helped encourage China to recognize and respond to an emerging HIV/AIDS challenge;

 

·        supported the development and modernization of 23 contraceptive production facilities.  As a result, a wider variety and safer contraceptives are available in China today.  This kind of progress is a critical predicate to informed consent and reproductive choice;

 

·        provided assistance to moderate the single-minded pursuit of numerical targets, emphasizing instead that interpersonal counseling underscores individual choice and informed consent;

 

·        supported, with WHO and UNICEF, training of health care workers in 300 poor, rural counties to enhance provision of high quality maternal, child health and family planning care;

 

·        initiated projects in 11 provinces in China to promote women’s status through enhanced literacy training, house-hold and small business financial management training, credit opportunities, day care and improved maternal/child health and family planning care.  These projects aim to improve women’s status in a culture where women have traditionally been valued less than men.

 

HAS UNFPA EVER PARTICIPATED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT’S POPULATION PROGRAM?   

 

Absolutely not.  UNFPA does not help manage China’s population program, nor has it ever engaged in any act of coercion – in China or anywhere else in the world.  UNFPA has not and will not participate in the management of China’s population program.  Assistance from UNFPA amounts to less than one-half of one percent of the total cost of China’s national program (estimated to be more than $3 billion annually, compared to UNFPA’s $5 million).  Similarly, UNFPA has a staff of four international professionals in China, as compared to the host government’s 160,000 family planning workers.  UNFPA is no more able to “manage” Chinese activities than any other nation or entity that deals with China – including countries like the United States that have important bilateral relations and high level interactions with China.

 

UNFPA has ultimate control over its funds and requires that they be expended in a manner consistent with the highest standards for human rights, voluntarism and health care.  UNFPA funding in China is only expended in a manner consistent with voluntarism, respect for human rights, and the elements contained in the agreed country program.

 

HAS UNFPA EVER BEEN SUBJECT OF A COMPLAINT, IN CHINA OR ELSEWHERE, REGARDING COERCIVE ACTIVITIES? 

 

No.  Never.  There is not any instance anywhere in which UNFPA efforts have supported coercive activities or compromised international standards of human rights. 

 

 

 

 

WHY DO OTHER COUNTRIES SUPPORT A UNFPA PROGRAM IN CHINA?

 

Historically, almost all of the nations on UNFPA’s Executive Board have strongly supported the proposition that, by providing assistance to China, UNFPA is in a unique position to positively influence China’s population policies and to promote human rights.

 

UNFPA is in constant dialogue with Chinese officials at every level on matters pertaining to human rights.  UNFPA’s projects require strict adherence to human rights and insist on approaches to service delivery that are grounded in informed consent.

 

HASN’T CONGRESS WORKED OUT A REASONABLE COMPROMISE ON THIS ISSUE?

 

Yes.  Year-after-year, Congress has dealt with the issue of funding for UNFPA in light of its mandated presence in China.  In recent years, a reasonable compromise has been worked out to govern US participation in UNFPA.  Specifically, the compromise has ensured that the US remains engaged in UNFPA by providing an annual contribution to the organization.  However, the US contribution has been reduced by one dollar for every dollar spent by UNFPA in China.  For example, the most recent US contribution to UNFPA was reduced by $3.5 million, based on last year’s level of UNFPA activity in China.

 

DOESN’T US FUNDING TO UNFPA FREE UP ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE CHINA PROGRAM – THE SO-CALLED “FUNGIBILITY” ISSUE?

Over the past decade, UNFPA took the highly unusual step – at the request of the United States – of segregating the US contribution and providing accounting information that irrefutably demonstrated that no US taxpayer funds were used in China.  In addition, US funds could not be used to allow additional funds to be spent in China because the program allocation for China ($20 million over four years) is set in the project documentation and cannot be changed.

 

IS CUTTING OFF FUNDING TO UNFPA A MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATES TO ADDRESS CONCERNS ABOUT CHINA’S POPULATION PRACTICES?

 

Absolutely not.  UNFPA is a positive force for change in China.  UNFPA has helped to prevent large numbers of unwanted pregnancies in China by making safe and more effective contraceptives available as a replacement for unsafe and failure prone methods.  Millions of improved IUDs have been produced with UNFPA support, resulting in hundreds of thousands fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer abortions, reduced maternal and infant mortality.

 

If the United States wants to influence China’s population practices beyond what UNFPA is doing now, it should pursue such efforts vigorously through its bilateral agenda and human rights dialogue with China. 

 

DO OTHER ORGANZATIONS HELP ADMINISTER FUNDS IN CHINA? 

 

Historically, more than 99 percent of UNFPA’s assistance in China has been administered by other multilateral organizations or international NGOs.  Administering agencies have included the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), all of which have an immovable commitment to international human rights standards.

 

WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF THE WITHDRAWL OF US FUNDING?

 

In the 1980s, the United States withdrew from UNFPA funding for seven years with absolutely no effect whatsoever on Chinese conduct.  And as stated above, under current law, no US funds may be expended in China.  Therefore, the true impact of US withdrawal from UNFPA is felt by the poorest countries of the world.  Because the United States accounts for between 5-10 percent of UNFPA’s budget in any given year, US withdrawal will result in a 5-10 percent reduction in UNFPA’s available funding for programs in developing countries, particularly funding available for some of the poorest countries in Africa. 

 

As a result of the withdrawal of the United States contribution to UNFPA in 1999, it is estimated that 870,000 women in the developing world were deprived of effective modern contraception, leading to 500,000 unintended pregnancies, 234,000 births, 200,000 abortions, and thousands of maternal and child deaths.