International Policy
UFI Governing Board Member Addresses UN General Assembly at Commission on Social Development
Thomas C. Christensen, a member of the Governing Board of United Families International, addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations in February 2008 while representing UFI at the Commission on Social Development. The text of his remarks appears below:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
My name is Tom Christensen. I am a lawyer representing the NGO, United Families International, with headquarters in Phoenix Arizona. United Families is active at UN conferences throughout the world, using social science, public opinion and UN precedent to promote the family.
I am frankly surprised that more emphasis at this conference has not been placed on the family, which as we all know, is described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the fundamental group unit of society, deserving of the highest level of government support. Recently, the secretary general of the United Nations, in a report dated July 23, 2007 (A/62/132), requested that this commission at this session (as a follow-up to the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family), "integrate a family perspective into the commission's proposed policy outcome document" and to consider a family perspective as it relates to "other issues, such as youth and aging."
The reason why the family must be considered in these deliberations is simple. No civilization can survive without the linkage of men and women in enduring families with a sufficient number of children to maintain the population and provide future workers, leaders, soldiers, etc.
The family is, of course, critical to the nurture, mentoring, care and protection of children through maturity. The government can never replace effective mothers and fathers. Social science confirms that no factor is greater in the future employment prospects of a child than his or her family environment.
The family is the chief indicator of a child's success in school. Even poor children excel when the mother, assisted by the father, assumes the role of first educator. Children from stable two-parent homes perform better on standardized tests. Without a stable home environment, children often learn their values and life skills on the street, from amoral peers, and from inferior social institutions and drift towards crime and high-risk behaviors. The production of a steady supply of children who are loved and disciplined in the home is essential to a free and prosperous nation.
As to women, the "feminization of poverty" is in large part due to the breakdown of marriage and family. Not only do women choose not to have children when they lack a permanent male partner, but they greatly struggle to provide for them alone. Government policy must not discourage marriage, childbearing and the full-time job of parenting. To mothers who must work, government policy should encourage them to work at home or on reduced hours or flex schedules to better balance the needs of home and work.
As to the elderly, as we heard Monday from the representative, women are having children at such a low rate in Italy that their country is aging, struggling to provide for an expanding elderly population. Increasingly, the elderly are detached from family and dependent on unfunded government entitlements. This demographic crisis faces most of the developed nations of the earth, including many states in the U.S. The solution is to encourage in law and culture stable, enduring, child-rich families and extended families.
Families that are broken and poor have individuals with disabilities and other challenges and must be strengthened, educated and encouraged in such a way that they can stand on their own. As U.S. President Kennedy once said, the best welfare policy is to strengthen the family so the family can care for itself. But government policy should not overlook the challenges and social value of the intact family. These are essential to a strong economy and need incentives, encouragement and legal status.
I had the opportunity this afternoon to read the latest draft resolution of the Commission for Social Development, "Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work," currently being negotiated in closed-session informals. It concerned me that the resolution contained no mention of the family perspectives spoken of by the secretary general or from the many positive family references in the Copenhagen Declaration of 1995. How can we set policies relating to social and economic development without considering the fundamental social and economic unit of society?
May I review with you the specific recommendations of the secretary general.
"1. Aware that the Commission for Social Development, at its forty-sixth session in 2008, will be considering policy aspects and recommendations on the priority theme of "promoting full employment and decent work for all", the General Assembly may wish to invite the Commission for Social Development to integrate a family perspective into the Commission's proposed policy outcome document on the priority theme, and to also invite the Commission to integrate a family perspective into its consideration of other issues, such as youth and aging.
2. ...Governments … [should] continue in their efforts to integrate a family perspective into policymaking through either new, revitalized, or currently established mechanisms and to link them to the efforts and mechanisms utilized to coordinate family policies and activities. [They should] … emphasize the importance of partnerships between various national and international stakeholders in formulating and implementing family policy.
3. Conscious of the importance of time spent by parents with their children for the well-being of families and particularly for the development, upbringing and well-being of children, and fully aware of the pressures and stresses of work and earning a living in all countries, especially those that have been affected by economic crises, …Governments [should] support families by developing a sustainable family-work system geared at reconciling work and family life and establishing and maintaining a viable balance between these two facets of life."
In view of these important recommendations and the obvious linkage to the goals of this commission and positive family policy, why are we not incorporating a reasonable family perspective in the resolutions under consideration? Without strong families, the goal of "promoting full employment and decent work for all" will fail. Please, in your deliberations, do not ignore the family, the fundamental social and economic unit of society. Thank you.
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