Letters to the 108th Congress

July 14, 2003

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the American Bar Association and its more than 400,000 members, I write to urge your support for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the funds authorized for it in HR 1950, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, and the Crowley Amendment language.

As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA actively supports the rule of law worldwide. In many areas of the world, instability caused by the ravages of the AIDS crisis has threatened the rule of law and, therefore, the very basis of civil society.

An estimated 40 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2001, nearly 95% in the developing world, where medications to extend life and keep the virus in check are available only to a very few. The number of new infections, currently estimated at about 14,000 per day worldwide, continues to rise. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the hardest hit region, women are at greatest risk. For instance, the infection rates for adolescent girls in some parts of the region can outnumber that for adolescent boys by five to one. This poses grave consequences for the stability of families in those areas. Indeed, by the end of 2000, the year for which the latest figures are available, 12.1 million children in that region alone have lost their mother or both parents in the epidemic and another 1.1 million children are living with the virus, having contracted it in the womb.

It has been 20 years since the HIV/AIDS crisis first surfaced as an international threat. Its devastation can be measured in units of dollars spent, productivity reduced, communities devastated and lives lost. In severely impacted regions, the HIV virus tends to aggravate the conditions in which it flourishes-a cycle of conflict, poverty, social upheaval, and internal migration aids its spread and follows in its wake.

In 2000, the United Nations Security Council identified HIV/AIDS as a challenge to international stability and security, but, before then, the UNFPA had already geared its programs to address this scourge. Since the early 1990's, UNFPA has integrated HIV prevention into its core goal of assuring universal access to reproductive health services. In 1996, UNFPA joined the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, UNICEF and other international organizations to form the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Among the cosponsoring organizations of UNAIDS, UNFPA is uniquely situated to address the spread of HIV infection in at-risk communities, particularly among women and adolescent girls. Its resources include an international network of offices and experts available to support national reproductive health programs and to assist in the development of culturally and religiously sensitive responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

UNFPA has seen success in prevention programs developed in the hardest hit regions. In Uganda, where the UNFPA runs a program for young adults, HIV infection among pregnant women has dropped by as much as 40% over the last 5 years. In Thailand, from which the UNFPA runs a Technical Advisory Program servicing Southeast Asia, the prevalence of HIV infection among pregnant women and young male soldiers has fallen markedly.

While the crisis in the hardest hit regions continues to grow, funding has not kept pace with the needs engendered by the HIV/AIDS pandemic: UNFPA resources are currently below 1995 levels. The success of Uganda gives us all hope for the future. Full funding for UNFPA will enable it to continue its important work. I urge you to support this important program.

Sincerely,

Sidney D. Watson
Chair, ABA AIDS Coordinating Committee

108th Congress Letters Home