Helms and Hyde: obstructing womens’ rights around the world

Yesterday I wrote about the Global Gag Rule and its effects on abortion rights and services around the world. What I didn’t write about was the Helms Amendment,  which has been in effect since 1973 – it followed right on the heels of Roe v. Wade as a conservative backlash to the legalization of abortion in the US.  The Helms Amendment prohibits the use of US foreign assistance funds to pay for “abortion as a method of family planning, or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortion.” Although this amendment is slightly less far-reaching than the Gag Rule, it also has a huge detrimental effect on the availability of safe abortion services to women around the world. Currently, approximately 67,000 women worldwide die each year as a result of unsafe abortions, and millions more are seriously injured. Check out this article by IPAS to get a better idea of how the Helms Amendment violates human rights and inhibits other nations’ efforts to provide abortion services in their own countries.

The Helms Amendment is the Foreign Policy equivalent of the Hyde Amendment,  a domestic policy which prohibits federal funding from being used to pay for abortion.

Permanently Ban the Global Gag Rule

Here in the US, abortion has been a contentious issue for decades. Clinics where abortion services are provided often have protesters in front showing gruesome and inaccurate pictures of aborted fetuses.  Pro-choice activists are sometimes labeled as murderers; once, when I mentioned that I was working at Planned Parenthood, I was told by a med student that she was studying to “be able to save babies, not kill them.” And yet here in the United States women do have the right to choose when and if to have children, and whether pregnancy is right for us. Of course, preventative contraception methods are always preferable, but accidents happen. What sexually active girl hasn’t had a pregnancy scare at some point?  Birth control is not a guarantee. Abstinence only campaigns have been proven over and over again to be ineffective – sexuality is a part of our humanity. As American women, we are privileged to have access to that basic human right, the right to have control over our own bodies.

In many developing countries, that is not the case, and this is hugely affected by U.S. international policies. The Mexico City Policy, better known as the Global Gag Rule, prohibited any organization abroad that receives federal US funding from performing abortions, or even counseling or referring patients for abortion. This is even if the organization was doing so using outside funding.  Or, as laid out by USAID on its website:

“The Mexico City Policy required foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they will not perform or   actively promote abortion as a method of family planning using funds generated from any source as a condition for receiving USAID family planning assistance.”

This means that a US policy can determine what an individual doctor, who works for a US funded organization, can say to his or her individual patient halfway around the world.

Haitian Reflections on the CARE National Conference

Post by Claude Joseph, Brooklyn College.

The CARE’s National Conference 2010 is the most far-reaching event that I have participated in in the past three years. The reasons are twofold: first of all, it approached the eradication of global poverty with a paradigm focused on empowering women. Since women are the cornerstone of any society, this approach is, in my opinion, the best one. I was so proud to meet Her Excellency Sia Nyama Koroma, First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Her Excellency Ida Odinga, wife of the Prime Minister of Kenya–two women who are committed to play a significant role in the fight against global poverty.  I had the opportunity to chat briefly with these two venerable women about the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit my country, Haiti, on January 12, 2010. In this short meeting, I realized how deeply struck they were by what was happening in Haiti, despite being an ocean away.

Secondly, thanks to this conference, I have joined the CARE Action Network, a social network of great magnitude in terms of people who are committing their lives to the struggle for a better world. I am proud to join these people who welcome each other with open-minds and share their experiences on many subjects.

Also, it is worthwhile to mention that the CARE conference inspired me to further engage with the Haitian Youth Leaders’ Symposium, held in Haiti last week, where more than two thousand young people gathered to discuss reconstruction efforts.

WKU “Hilltoppers” Advocate for Jobs, Development, and SKA in Africa

In my previous post I introduced you to our AID Chapter at Western Kentucky University, and told you about our work on Foreign Assistance Reform. I failed to mention our other large focus this past semester, how silly of me!

This Spring we worked with a Professor, Dr. Saundra Ardrey, to create a course called “Grassroots Resistance in the 20th/21st Century.” We used the course to explore previous methods of grassroots organizing and change to enhance our organizing for the future. While we initially set out to have the class deal with foreign assistance reform as well, an opportunity presented itself to try and affect real change in a unique way.

Dr. Charles McGruder, a professor at WKU and world renowned physicist, brought to our attention an exciting project for both science and development called the Square Kilometer Array.  Here’s a little background from the abstract we are presenting to Congress:

The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is an exciting scientific endeavor; it will be the world’s largest radio telescope comprised of three thousand dishes capable of new science in the search for answers to life’s big questions, including the birth of our universe. The international consortium working to bring SKA to life is currently debating the host country for the project, with South Africa and Australia being the potential recipients. While both sites meet the technological and geographical requirements, South Africa and the eight partner countries on the African continent that will host parts of SKA, will see many benefits in terms of alleviating poverty and spurring development. The Square Kilometer Array is an opportunity for a new approach to development, offering a way to advance science and humanity at the same time. The promise of investment in vital areas such as education, technology, and infrastructure, including a massive expansion of high-speed Internet access, will aid these countries in overcoming problems and advancing development.

Now us “Hilltoppers” from WKU are headed to the “Hill” in Washington, D.C. this week to present a proposal we drafted urging Congress to take steps to encourage the International Consortium in charge of placing SKA to choose the African bid. We have drafted a sample resolution of support that we hope to get introduced to Congress, but we are looking also for advice and support on the best ways to act to support the South African bid.

I will keep you all posted on what happens on our journey.

A First Time Lobbyist’s Perspective on the Halls of Congress

Post by AIDemocracy member and Global Scholar alum Nisha Patel, Arizona State University.

Lobbyists hold a lot of importance in our society; they’re the ones who carry the people’s voices and catalyze change to happen in legislation (even if they’re restricted to do their job in certain areas of D.C.)! When we were in training for Lobby Day at the CARE Conference, it never occurred to me that as CARE members being trained… we are both constituents AND lobbyists voicing our concern on the global issues of maternal/pre-natal healthcare, preventing child marriage, and food security.

With small groups of people and hard-core training on understanding the issue and talking points, I felt beyond prepared to persuade Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor these bills and take them to the floor for a vote! I never thought me, a college student and lifelong humanitarian, would get the opportunity to lobby in the Dirksen and Hart buildings and be under the same roof as our country’s most influential people.

When the day finally came to lobby, I was extremely anxious. I’m not too sure why because I knew our issues inside and out, and my group was in the same boat as me- first timer lobbyists. Entering into the first office, I knew it was the time to whip out the light bulbs and touching anecdotes. Time to convince Congress how important these issues are to CARE, people in the U.S., and around the world.

CARE National Conference: Building Capacity and Creating Change

Like Lisa and Ashley, I was also lucky enough to be in attendance at the CARE National Conference and Celebration last week. As they have already written, the conference focused on three different bills and three main targets: (H.R. 3077/S. 384) the Global Food Security Act and addressing the Millennium Development Goal #1 of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act (H.R. 2103/S. 987), which condemns child marriage as a human rights violation; and the Global and Maternal Health Bill (H.R. 5268/ not yet introduced in the Senate), which seeks to reduce rates of maternal mortality with cost-effective and women-empowering solutions.

Global issues like hunger, poverty, or lack of access to education are enormous, and need to be addressed in comprehensive ways.  I’m always a big fan of programs that build the capacity to address the issue in the population most affected. People have the ability to solve their own problems. The Food Security Act places much more emphasis on funding for long-term agriculture rather than emergency aid, and, in doing so, the empowerment of communities to feed themselves. It was with this in mind that I chose the Food Security Act as my focus for the lobbying visit. This wasn’t my first time lobbying on Capitol Hill, but it was the first time that I actually had the job of conveying key elements of the group’s agenda to the Hill staffers.

And I’m certainly glad I did.

As of May 19th, my House representative officially co-sponsored the Global Food Security Act. (Curious about your own reps? Click here for the House, and here for the Senate!). As one of over 900 conference participants with 345 Capitol Hill visits, I definitely felt part of something larger than myself.

But that wasn’t the only type of change at this conference.

A Renewed Commitment to Feed the Future

“Cause you can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery” – Paul Schickler, President of Pioneer Hi-Bred

This week I had the privilege of attending the release of Feed the Future (FTF), the Obama Administration’s strategy to address global hunger and food insecurity. Approximately 300 senior leaders from the Administration, Congress, and the business, policy, and NGO communities packed into the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel to hear USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah unveil the Administration’s plan.

With more than a billion people – one sixth of the world’s population – now suffering from chronic hunger, the U.S. is stepping up its game. At the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy last summer, President Obama pledged $3.5 billion over three years (to be leveraged in conjunction with the more than $18.5 billion pledged by fellow heads of state) to “scale up” U.S. investments and impact towards achieving Millennium Development Goal #1: Eradicating Extreme Hunger and Poverty.

Some of us have expressed skepticism with respect to the Administration’s initiative and the Global Food Security Act in the past: namely with respect to money earmarked for corporate biotech research and U.S. investments being funneled through “multi-lateral” institutions such as the World Bank.

While those concerns remain, I want to take a moment to highlight the points of this plan that deserve applause:

• FTF puts addressing global hunger and poverty back at the forefront of the US foreign policy agenda
• FTF supports country-led strategies, supporting effective governments and active citizens’ efforts in determining which goals to pursue and how to allocate resources

Tell Congress: Haiti Can’t Wait

On March 24th, President Obama sent his request to Congress for a supplemental spending bill to support relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Millions of people in Haiti could use that aid to feed their children and begin rebuilding their lives, but Congress still has not passed this crucial bill.

Contact your members of Congress today to tell them to pass the aid bill now!

With more than 230,000 people killed, 300,000 people injured, and at least 1.7 million forced from their homes by the earthquake, Haiti will require ongoing support throughout 2010 to address emergency needs in health, nutrition, shelter, sanitation, rural livelihood and food. The rainy season has already started and hurricane season will soon start in June; this desperate situation will only be exacerbated in the coming months.

The need could not be more urgent or the cause more important, but Congress is still just sitting on the bill! So, we need your help to push them forward.

Please click here to write to your representative and senators today.

Increasing Ownership, Decreasing Corruption: Oxfam Live Streaming Event this Friday!

It is not news that foreign aid effectiveness increases in direct proportion to the degree of ownership that the recipient country has over the allocation of aid funds.  But what about corruption?

How can the US government promote country ownership while also ensuring transparency and accountability of aid resources? In the fourth event in Oxfam America’s “Ownership” series, leading African anti-corruption champion, John Githongo, and other visionaries weigh in on how the US can work with countries to increase their ownership of aid while decreasing corruption through strengthening country systems and empowering citizens to keep their governments in check.

Discussing these issues in a panel are:

Josh Rogin, author of The Cable blog at ForeignPolicy.com, Washington Post columnist (Moderator)
Raymond C. Offenheiser, President, Oxfam America
John Githongo, Chief Executive of Inuka Kenya Trust and Head of Twaweza Kenya (Keynote)
Esther Tallah, Manager, Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria; board member of UNITAID
UPDATE: Honorable Minister Amara M. Konneh, Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, Liberia

Click here for the live video stream this Friday, May 21, 9 am – 11 am (EST)!

CARE National Conference 2010: Agency, Structural Change, and Relationships Key to Fighting Poverty

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the CARE National Conference in DC.  Like Ashley Binetti says in her post, the conference focused on informing the attenders and then lobbying Congress about three issues: chronic hunger, maternal health, and child marriage.  In addition to these focus areas, the session also talked about the work that CARE was doing throughout the world to fight global poverty.

I attended a session entitled “Empowering Women and Girls: Turning Rhetoric into Action” which focused on how CARE is giving women and children the tools they need to get out of poverty.  CARE’s mission is not to simply give charity to women and children fighting poverty, but to provide them with sustainable ways to get out of poverty.   They focus on three elements: agency, structures, and relationships.  The three are intertwined, and all three are necessary to help these women and children.  Without agency, the women cannot take control of a part of their lives; without changing the structures around them, the women would not be able to sustain the agency, and without forming relationships with the women, they would not have the support systems that are needed to maintain their actions.

All of this is relevant to the three areas on which CARE choose to focus their conference.  In order to sustainably develop, and fight against chronic hunger, maternal health issues, and child marriage, women need to have agency, they need to have a hand in changing the structures of the world around them, and they need to have relationships with each other that continue to empower them and future generations of women.