Suite à la décision du gouvernement des Etats-Unis de résilier ses accords de financement de l’UNFPA, (l’agence onusienne en charge des droits sexuels et reproductifs), je vous invite à retrouver la réaction du Forum parlementaire européen sur les droits et santé sexuels et reproductifs (EPF) que je préside.

Cette décision américaine aura des impacts considérables sur la vie de millions de personnes. Ces 48 subventions, d’un montant total d’environ 377 millions de dollars, avaient été accordées à l’UNFPA pour lui permettre de fournir des soins de santé maternelle essentiels, une protection contre les violences, un traitement pour les victimes de viol et d’autres soins vitaux dans plus de 25 pays en crise, dont l’Afghanistan, Gaza, Haïti, le Mali, la République démocratique du Congo, le Soudan, la Syrie, le Tchad et l’Ukraine. 

Nous regrettons profondément cette décision qui répond à une logique du chaos poursuivi par le nouveau gouvernement américain et qui plongera encore un peu plus dans la crise et la pauvreté de nombreuses populations.

Retrouvez le communiqué de presse sur le site de EPF.

Brussels, 5 March 2025 – EPF expresses its deep concern at the US government’s decision to terminate all funding agreements with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This decision threatens to devastate the lives of millions of women and girls worldwide, particularly in crisis-stricken regions and emergency settings. EPF urges policymakers and citizens alike to recognise the human cost of these decisions and advocate for protecting global health initiatives. 

The UNFPA, a critical lifeline for sexual and reproductive health services, faces the loss of $377 million in US funding. The US administration’s rhetoric on “protecting life” obscures the true impact of these cuts: increased maternal deaths, unsafe abortions, and the erosion of fundamental rights for women and girls. UNFPA’s programs provide far more than reproductive health services; they combat gender-based violence, provide maternal care, and tackle taboo issues such as menstruation and child marriage. The cuts will have dire consequences for individuals across the globe:

• In Ukraine, some 640,000 women and girls will be affected by cuts to psychosocial support, gender-based violence services, safe spaces, and economic empowerment programs.

• In Nigeria, over 500,000 vulnerable individuals, primarily women and girls, will lose access to essential healthcare.

• In Yemen, nearly 1 million women will forfeit reproductive health services, while 300,000 will lose critical gender-based violence prevention programs.

• In Bangladesh, the only 24-hour emergency obstetric care facility for Rohingya refugees faces closure, jeopardising the lives of countless mothers and newborns.

“UNFPA hopes that the US Government will reconsider its stance and retain its position as a global leader working in partnership with UNFPA to alleviate the suffering of women and their families, often as a result of catastrophes not of their own making,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem.

The situation is made worse by the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, the dismantlement of USAID, and the US’s re-entry into the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which amount to a concerted effort to demolish the multi-lateral architecture upholding gender equality, women’s health and human rights as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. UNFPA programmes are crafted with and approved by the governments of the countries where they are implemented and this systematic attack on sexual and reproductive health and rights from the Trump Administration should be understood for what it is, a direct challenge to the sovereignty of countries to chart their own development path.

“At a time when the backlash against women’s rights and gender equality is escalating around the world, at a time when the budget for development aid is facing unprecedented cuts across Europe, we urgently call on political decision-makers to step up and take responsibility. We must unite across parties and borders, for the sake of a greater cause: women’s rights”, said EPF President Hon. Guillaume Gouffier Valente (MP, France).

This is a moment for all countries who share a commitment to human rights and evidence-based health to step up and reaffirm their responsibility to fundamental values and multilateral cooperation. United in the common goal of defending and advancing human rights and democracy, we call on the EU institutions, Member States and policy-makers to reaffirm their commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights and multilateral cooperation. The EU must reinforce cooperation with other like-minded donor countries as well as partners in the Global South to forge a global coalition dedicated to SRHR. Bold and strategic engagement in key international forums, such as the United Nations, G7 and G20, and regional institutions, will be essential to safeguarding the human rights and access to health which form the basis for human dignity. The EU Institutions and EU Member States have historically been staunch supporters of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and they must now re-double efforts at a time when authoritarian forces seek to impose their own restrictive vision of human rights on sovereign nations and reverse decades of hard-won development and health gains.