II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 965

To restore a United States voluntary contribution to the United Nations

Population Fund.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 5, 1999

Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr.

DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To restore a United States voluntary contribution to the

United Nations Population Fund.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Popu5 lation Fund (UNFPA) Funding Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) The renewed commitment of the world com9 munity to the formulation of government policies

10 that contribute to global population stabilization and
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1 to improvements in the status of women owes much

2 to the efforts of the United Nations and its special3 ized agencies and organizations, particularly the

4 United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

5 (2) Over one-half of the UNFPA’s assistance is

6 devoted to maternal and child health programs, in7 cluding the provision of family planning services,

8 and it is a major supplier of modern methods of con9 traception. UNFPA also supports efforts aimed at

10 preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexu11 ally-transmitted diseases and activities aimed specifi12 cally at enhancing the status of women.

13 (3) UNFPA does not fund abortion services,

14 rather, UNFPA seeks to reduce the incidence of

15 abortion by improving access to contraceptive serv16 ices and to reduce deaths and injuries related to un17 safe abortion by supporting treatment of women suf18 fering from its complications.

19 (4) Operating in over 160 nations in all regions

20 of the world and as a politically neutral source of

21 funds, UNFPA complements the important work of

22 the United States Agency for International Develop23 ment population assistance program.

24 (5) As a result of the withdrawal of the United

25 States contribution to UNFPA as of 1999, it is esti-
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1 mated that 870,000 women in the developing world

2 will be deprived of effective modern contraception,

3 leading to 500,000 unintended pregnancies, 234,000

4 births, 200,000 abortions, and thousands of mater5 nal and child deaths.

6 (6) Many global environmental problems, in7 cluding water shortages, pollution, tropical deforest8 ation, and the loss of wildlife habitat are linked to

9 rapid population growth. UNFPA has assisted coun10 tries around the world plan for and slow population

11 growth, therefore reducing its effects on the environ12 ment.

13 (7) Assistance provided by UNFPA conforms to

14 the principle, affirmed at the 1994 International

15 Conference on Population and Development by 180

16 nations, including the United States, that ‘‘all cou17 ples and individuals have the basic right to decide

18 freely and responsibly the number and spacing of

19 their children and to have the information, edu20 cation, and means to do so.’’.

21 (8) UNFPA opposes coercion in any form. All

22 of UNFPA’s programs are designed in conformity

23 with universally recognized human rights principles.

24 (9) An appropriate way to express the legiti25 mate concerns of the United States Government
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1 about the population policies of the People’s Repub2 lic of China is by placing those concerns on the bi3 lateral agenda along with other important human

4 rights issues, not by singling out a United Nations

5 agency by withholding all funding thereby punishing

6 the women and families around the world who de7 pend on its humanitarian aid.

8 (10) UNFPA can and should play a construc9 tive role in helping to reduce the incidence of coer10 cive practices in China through its new country pro11 gram that aims to expand voluntarism and contra12 ceptive method choice, to strengthen a broader range

13 of reproductive health services, and to enhance the

14 status of women.

15 SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF THE UNITED STATES VOLUNTARY

16 CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

17 POPULATION FUND.

18 In addition to amounts otherwise available to carry

19 out the purposes of chapter 3 of part 1 of the Foreign

20 Assistance Act of 1961, there are authorized to be appro21 priated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and $35,000,000

22 for fiscal year 2001 to be available only for United States

23 voluntary contributions to the United Nations Population

24 Fund.
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1 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON THE UNITED STATES VOLUNTARY

2 CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

3 POPULATION FUND.

4 (a) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, of the funds appropriated for voluntary con6 tributions to the United Nations Population Fund for each

7 of the fiscal years 2000 and 2001, an amount equal to

8 the amount allocated by the United Nations Population

9 Fund for the country program in the People’s Republic

10 of China during each fiscal year shall be withheld from

11 obligation and expenditure unless during such fiscal year,

12 the President submits to the appropriate congressional

13 committees the certification described in subsection (b).

14 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The President shall certify

15 that the country program of the United Nations Popu16 lation Fund in the People’s Republic of China—

17 (1) focuses on improving the delivery of vol18 untary family planning information and services;

19 (2) is designed in conformity with the human

20 rights principles affirmed at the International Con21 ference on Population and Development with the

22 support of 180 nations including the United States;

23 (3) is implemented only in counties of the Peo24 ple’s Republic of China where all quotas and targets

25 for the recruitment of program participants have
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1 been abolished and the use of coercive measures has

2 been eliminated;

3 (4) is carried out in consultation with and

4 under the oversight and approval of the UNFPA ex5 ecutive board, including the United States represent6 ative;

7 (5) is subject to regular, independent moni8 toring to ensure compliance with the principles of in9 formed consent and voluntary participation; and

10 (6) suspends operations in project counties

11 found to be in violation of program guidelines.

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