A federal appeals court ruled this week that the U.S. government can require international aid groups to sign an antiprostitution pledge to receive AIDS grants.
The ruling was a defeat for DKT International, a charity in Washington, and other nonprofit groups that oppose the rule. In 2005, DKT sued the U.S. Agency for International Development and Randall L. Tobias, the agency's administrator, after it was prohibited from receiving a $60,000 grant for work in Vietnam because it refused to say it disavows prostitution and sex trafficking. The organization argued that making such a pledge would hamper its efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among sex workers and that it violated its Constitutional free-speech rights.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia disagreed. In its opinion, the court said the pledge requirement "does not compel DKT to advocate the government's position on prostitution and sex trafficking; it requires only that if DKT wishes to receive funds it must communicate the message the government chooses to fund. This does not violate the First Amendment."
Charities Divided
Philip D. Harvey, president of DKT International, said his organization is considering its next legal step, but that it would fight the ruling. "This won't end here," Mr. Harvey said.
He said that the judges' decision will muzzle "hundreds" of charities. "Many of the most effective AIDS-prevention groups must now relinquish their First Amendment rights in order to participate in the president's AIDS-prevention initiative," he said.
DKT International, which receives about 16 percent of its roughly $50-million budget from the government, has had to delay its work in Vietnam because of the legal battle. The government grant the group turned down because of the antiprostitution pledge would have been used to market and distribute condom lubricants, which help to prevent condoms from breaking, thereby helping to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Since 2003, the Bush administration has required charities that receive foreign-assistance funds to fight AIDS to sign the pledge. The administration said the rule helps the United States convey a consistent message abroad and does not hamstring the work of beneficiaries.
The rule has divided nonprofit organizations. Last year, more than 200 charities signed a letter to President Bush to protest it, but a coalition of mostly religious groups, including the Salvation Army, has publicly supported the administration's policy.
The appeals court decision in the case, known as DKT International v. United States Agency for International Development, et al. (06-5225a), is available online at http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov under "All Opinions."