UNITED NATIONS, New York – In an end-of-year show of support to women’s rights and reproductive health services, the Dutch government announced this week an additional $2.5 million contribution to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. The new pledge follows a $2 million grant that the Netherlands allocated last July in addition to its regular 2002 pledge. This brings the total Dutch contribution to almost $55 million and makes the Netherlands UNFPA’s top donor for this year.
"UNFPA is grateful for the Netherlands’ vote of confidence in our efforts to bring high quality reproductive health care and services to millions of people around the world,” said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid. “This additional support will enhance our efforts to save women’s lives by providing them with access to family planning services, medical care during pregnancy and childbirth, and emergency obstetric care.”
The latest grant from the Netherlands is particularly vital in light of the loss of the 2002 United States contribution to UNFPA. The U.S. Administration announced last July that it would withhold $34 million - that had previously been appropriated by Congress to UNFPA - based on false claims that UNFPA supports coercive abortion in China. The decision was taken despite recommendations by a State Department fact-finding team to release the funds.
Many of the 130 donor countries supporting UNFPA have also stepped forward with additional funding, outside their regular 2002 pledges. These extra contributions included nearly $1.6 million from Belgium, $2.5 million from Canada, $700,000 from Denmark, $2 million from Finland, $400,000 from Germany, $200,000 from New Zealand, $2.2 million from Sweden and $4.7 million from the United Kingdom. The total amount of extra funds from donor countries to UNFPA was $18.7 million.
The loss of the U.S. funds has also prompted two American women, Lois Abraham of New Mexico and Jane Roberts of California, to launch their own grass-roots movement to compensate for the downfall. Their goal is to reach out to 34 million friends who would lend their direct financial support to UNFPA. Information about the “34 Million Friends” campaign has been sent out through e-mails to colleges, list-serves, club memberships and others. As a result, UNFPA has so far received over $150,000 from men and women who care about family planning and reproductive health services.
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UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance. Since it became operational in 1969, UNFPA has provided close to $6 billion to developing countries to meet reproductive health needs and support sustainable development issues. The Fund helps ensure that women displaced by natural disasters or armed conflicts have life-saving services such as assisted delivery, and prenatal and post-partum care. It also works to reduce their vulnerability to HIV infection, sexual exploitation and violence.
Contact Information:
Omar Gharzeddine
Tel.: +1 (212) 297-5028
Email: gharzeddine@unfpa.org