Background on the Crowley Provision in the Department of State Authorization Act,
Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 (H.R. 1950)

On May 8, 2003, the House International Relations Committee adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) that would facilitate U.S. contributions to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. A vote is scheduled on the House floor on Tuesday July 15.

The Crowley provision clarifies current law under the "Kemp-Kasten" amendment that was first adopted in 1985 and bars U.S. funds to any international organization the president determines "supports or participates in the management" of forced abortion or sterilization. Crowley's proposal: 1) provides strict safeguards against the use of any kind of coercion in U.S.-funded family planning programs, 2) clarifies current law to enable U.S. funding to be used to help end coercion in China, and 3) provides badly needed maternal health and other services in poor countries.

Under the Crowley provision, U.S. support for the United Nations Population Fund is cut off if the fund "directly supports or participates in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization."

Background

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the single largest global source of multilateral funding for maternal health and family planning programs. The agency is supported by 136 donor countries around the world and supports programs in 150 developing countries. UNFPA programs:

• Help mothers deliver healthy babies through pre-natal care and safe-delivery kits and counseling;
• Enable couples to determine the number and spacing of their children through the voluntary use of safe modern contraception; and
• Reduce the incidence and prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

UNFPA does not provide abortion or abortion services anywhere in the world. Noy of UNFPA funds are used to promote abortion.

All UNFPA activities are based solely on voluntary participation. UNFPA rejects coercion in any form in its activities, and works to end coercive practices by others.

The UNFPA Program in China

The Chinese government's so-called one-child policy unofficially involves some coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization practices. The United States and the United Nations stand on the side of human rights and work to put an end to these abuses. The UN Population Fund program in China was developed with the express purpose of moving China away from coercion and toward delivery of voluntary reproductive health services to its people, as another UNFPA program did with the government of India. UNFPA has operated in 32 Chinese counties, and the government of China has agreed in each of these counties that it would:

1. Lift all birth quotas and recruitment targets;
2. Improve the delivery of voluntary family planning information and services;
3. Eliminate the use of coercive measures;
4. Allow independent confirmation that targets and quotas have been lifted;
5. Allow independent investigation of any reports of coercion and the suspension of the UNFPA program in any county where violations have occurred; and
6. Allow regular independent monitoring to ensure compliance with the principles of informed choice and voluntary participation.

No mainstream human rights organization has ever accused UNFPA of being complicit in China's human rights violations.

President Bush's Decision to Cut UNFPA Funding

In May 2002, President Bush sent a three-member State Department team to China to investigate claims against UNFPA's work there. The team found "no evidence that UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion in the People's Republic of China." The team recommended that ". . . $34 million which has already been appropriated be released to UNFPA."

In July 2002, President Bush ignored the team's findings and cut off UNFPA's funding, saying UNFPA was in violation of the Kemp-Kasten amendment because it had provided a small number of computers and other equipment to the Chinese government and was therefore supporting China's management of its population policies.

This argument could have broad implications: the Chinese health ministry that works with UNFPA to develop a voluntary reproductive health program is the same agency that works with HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on HIV/AIDS prevention and with other UN agencies including UNICEF and the World Health Organization on maternal and child health programs, infectious diseases and other health-related programs.

UNFPA supporters agree that U.S. funds should never go to promote coercive population practices in China or anywhere else, but they should be available to help end human rights violations where they exist. The Crowley provision contains strong human rights safeguards but will not hamstring efforts to help end violations in China.

Cutting off funding to UNFPA harms millions of women and children in some of the poorest nations on earth and does nothing to help women in China. UNFPA officials estimate that the lost $34 million would prevent 2 million unwanted pregnancies, nearly 800,000 induced abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, nearly 60,000 cases of maternal illness or disability, and 77,000 infant and child deaths.

In its most recent floor vote funding UNFPA, the House of Representatives voted 221-198 to provide funding in 1999.

Text of Provision offered by Rep. Crowley

Authorizes $50,000,000 per year for Fiscal Year 2004 and Fiscal Year 2005

At the appropriate place in the text insert:

SEC. __. Permanent guidelines for United States voluntary contributions to the United Nations Population Fund.

Section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2221) is amended by inserting after subsection (a) the following new subsection:

"(b) (1) for fiscal years after fiscal year 2002, funds appropriated to the President or Department of State under any law for a voluntary contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) shall be obligated and expended for such purpose not less than 30 days after such funds become available unless the President certifies to the Congress that the United Nations Population Fund directly supports or participates in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. The certification authority of the President under this subsection may not be delegated.

"(2) For purposes of this section: The term 'directly supports or participates in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization' means knowingly and intentionally working with a purpose to continue, advance, or expand the practice of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization, or playing a primary and essential role in the coercive or involuntary aspect[s] of a country's family planning program.

Prepared by tge U.S. Committee for UNFPA, July 2003

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