section_path: Concerns and criticism/Involvement in Peru's forced sterilizations
section_name: Involvement in Peru's forced sterilizations
paragraph_text: Involvement in Peru's forced sterilizations
  
  For three decades, USAID has been the principal foreign donor to family planning in Peru. Until the 1990s, the Peruvian government's commitment to providing family planning services was limited. In 1998, concerns arose regarding the involvement of USAID in forced sterilization campaigns in Peru. Some far-right politicians in Washington opposed USAID's funding of family planning initiatives in the country. In January 1998, David Morrison, from the U.S.-based NGO Population Research Institute (PRI), traveled to Peru to investigate claims of human rights abuses related to these programs. During his visit, Morrison gathered testimony from Peruvian politicians and other figures opposed to family planning but did not meet with USAID officials in Peru. Upon his return to the United States, the PRI submitted its findings to U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, a member of the Republican Party, urging for the suspension of USAID's family planning efforts in Peru. Smith subsequently dispatched a member of his staff to Peru for further investigation.
  
  In February 1998, another far-right U.S. organization, the Latin American Alliance for the Family, sent its director to Peru to examine the situation, again without consulting USAID officials. On February 25, 1998, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations, chaired by Smith, held a hearing on "the Peruvian population control program". Allegations that USAID was funding forced sterilizations in Peru prompted Congressman Todd Tiahrt to introduce the " Tiahrt Amendment " in 1998. However, the subcommittee concluded that USAID's funding had not supported the abuses committed by the Peruvian government.
  
  For three decades, USAID has been the principal foreign donor to family planning in Peru. Until the 1990s, the Peruvian government's commitment to providing family planning services was limited. In 1998, concerns arose regarding the involvement of USAID in forced sterilization campaigns in Peru. Some far-right politicians in Washington opposed USAID's funding of family planning initiatives in the country. In January 1998, David Morrison, from the U.S.-based NGO Population Research Institute (PRI), traveled to Peru to investigate claims of human rights abuses related to these programs. During his visit, Morrison gathered testimony from Peruvian politicians and other figures opposed to family planning but did not meet with USAID officials in Peru. Upon his return to the United States, the PRI submitted its findings to U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, a member of the Republican Party, urging for the suspension of USAID's family planning efforts in Peru. Smith subsequently dispatched a member of his staff to Peru for further investigation.
  
  In February 1998, another far-right U.S. organization, the Latin American Alliance for the Family, sent its director to Peru to examine the situation, again without consulting USAID officials. On February 25, 1998, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations, chaired by Smith, held a hearing on "the Peruvian population control program". Allegations that USAID was funding forced sterilizations in Peru prompted Congressman Todd Tiahrt to introduce the " Tiahrt Amendment " in 1998. However, the subcommittee concluded that USAID's funding had not supported the abuses committed by the Peruvian government.