Victories for Family!
After a few weeks of devastating blows to rule of law, marriage, and family, there is some good news coming to us from a world that increasingly seems turned upside down.
First, on Wednesday, a draft of the final outcome document on the United Nation’s “Post 2015 Development Agenda” was released. And we are so happy to report that it includes positive language on “family” – something UFI and the rest of the international pro-family movement has spent the last two years working toward, but had pretty much given up hope that it could happen.
As we have explained before, the “Post-2015 Development Agenda” is the overarching title for what will happen in development at an international level for the next 15 years. The agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a method of implementation, as well as a framework for follow-up and review. This culminating document is to guide activities, not only of the UN, but also other “stake holders” such as nations, cities, communities, and all of civil society. That’s why it’s so very important that language on “family” be included.
After reading the paragraph below, you might think “Really, that’s it? They’re excited about that?” Please know that every mention of the word “family” is heavily scrutinized, debated, and argued against by anti-family forces. This simple paragraph is definitely a victory and the result of efforts of countless numbers of individuals:
38. We recognize the role of the family as a contributor to sustainable development; one measure of success of the new Agenda will be its ability to strengthen and protect all families.
“This paragraph is a good starting point and gives us wording to promote “the family as a contributor to sustainable development” and work towards actions that will “strengthen and protect all families,” states Susan Roylance, founder of United Families International. “We should all be very pleased.” The draft document goes on to list “family” in a couple of other paragraphs referring to development priorities.
You can view the full draft of the outcome document here.
Although there is always a possibility that the positive references to family could be removed before the finished document goes before the world’s leaders in mid September, we feel that there is a very high probability it will remain in the document. There is a very narrow window of time left in which to make changes, and that’s great news for families around the world.
Yet another Victory
Building on a Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution on the Family from 2014, another very brave group of diplomats took a chance on the family at this year’s HRC in Geneva. A new resolution on the “Protection of the Family,” approved just last week, contains the strongest and most comprehensive language on the family that as ever emerged from the UN system.
Our colleague from the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) gives us the details:
Big Win for Traditional Family at UN Human Rights Council
By Rebecca Oas
A monumental development for the pro-family movement came last week in Geneva when the Human Rights Council approved a resolution calling for countries to take concrete steps to protect the family, described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the “natural and fundamental group unit of society.”
This is the second such resolution at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in two years. The resolution urges countries to adopt family-friendly laws and policies, while recognizing that the family unit faces “increasing vulnerabilities,” and calls upon international organizations to give “due consideration” to the family in the establishment of the post-2015 global development agenda.
The resolution notes that the family is “the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children,” and that while the State is responsible for protecting the human rights of all, “the family has the primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection of children.”
Both recent resolutions received strong opposition from states and organizations with a pro-“sexual rights” position on the basis that they might be used to “advance highly contentious family values and family-oriented policies,” according to a statement by the group Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI), which exists to promote the extremely contentious notion of “sexual rights” within international institutions.
The most contentious aspect of the resolution involved the definition of the family, which is not explicitly outlined. The 2014 resolution was described by the European Parliament’s LGBT intergroup as “non-inclusive,” as “the reference to a singular ‘family’ could be used as precedent to oppose rights for same-sex couples, single parents, and other forms of families.” During last week’s debate, Norway proposed a narrowly rejected amendment calling for a text acknowledging that in different contexts, “various forms of the family exist.”Continue Reading…
Finish reading Rebecca’s article and then go out and share the good news!
To see the full text of the Protection of the Family Resolution, go here.
Faithfully for families,
Laura Bunker
United Families International President