Washington, DC - US Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Constance Morella (R-MD) introduced a bill today which would restore the US voluntary contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). "This bill has the potential to be one of the most far-reaching foreign policy initiatives of the year for women," according to Sana F. Shtasel, the Director of the Washington, DC office of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Funding for population and development activities can literally mean life or death for hundreds of thousands of women around the world," says Shtasel, adding, "It is essential that the US maintain its leadership role in promoting reproductive rights."

UNFPA, the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries, is wholly funded by voluntary contributions. The funds are not part of the regular United Nations budget. UNFPA supports the principle, endorsed by the world community at the International Conference on Population and Development five years ago in Cairo, that all couples and individuals have the basic human right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so.

US funding to UNFPA was discontinued as of 1999 in response to objections in Congress over China's one-child policy. While there have been disturbing allegations of forced abortion and sterilization in China's family planning programs, UNFPA has instituted new programs in 32 counties in China aimed at abolishing quotas and providing a broader range of reproductive health services. Dr. Nafis Sadik, the executive director of UNFPA, has said, "If there were any reports of coercion, we would suspend the program."

"By singling out China's policies as a reason to cut all assistance to UNFPA, the US has, in effect, unfairly punished women and their families in over 160 other nations that depend on its humanitarian aid," says Shtasel.

In 1997, UNFPA provided support to 168 countries, 46 in sub-Saharan Africa, 37 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 44 in Asia and the Pacific, and 41 in the Arab States and Europe. Since 1969 the Fund has provided more than $4.3 billion to virtually all non-industrialized countries. UNFPA directly manages one fourth of the world's population assistance to these countries.

USAID, the US agency that provides all bilateral foreign assistance related to population and family planning, does not operate in all countries where UNFPA is active. "The money USAID gives to population assistance simply does not reach the breadth of countries that UNFPA assistance does," says Shtasel. "Giving US dollars to UNFPA is an effective way to provide multilateral aid."

For instance, in 1997 UNFPA supported the following reproductive health programs in Africa that would not otherwise have received US attention because they are not covered under USAID programs:

• UNFPA has provided assistance for family life education, HIV/AIDS prevention, and reproductive health and counseling services focusing on the needs of youth. Several countries in the region have recorded an increase in the use of multi-purpose youth centers that provide youth-friendly reproductive health information, counseling and services. These countries include Cape Verde, Namibia, and Swaziland.

• UNFPA has provided assistance to non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, and women's groups in Africa to undertake a variety of advocacy activities aimed at eradicating harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM); promoting reproductive health and reproductive rights; removing discriminatory laws and practices against women; and promoting adolescent reproductive health. For example, UNFPA has provided support to Chad and Mauritania to develop family codes that take into account the revision of existing laws that discriminate against women.